EDI is a core part of the work of the PDA. Far too often issues faced by pharmacists in the workplace are caused by discrimination against them due to their race, gender, disability, or sexual identity. The PDA helps individuals stand up to such treatment through casework support, however, they typically only get asked to be involved after the discrimination has already occurred.
It is therefore important that the PDA responds to consultations such as the one recently launched by the GPhC, and that the PDA EDI Networks are involved in proactively raising issues that will impact members. The PDA will submit a full response to the consultation and work collaboratively with their BAME, LGBT+, Ability, and NAWP Networks to highlight areas for improvement.
A 5 Year strategy?
It is worth noting that the foreword of this consultation states:
“This is a five-year strategy, and we see this as the beginning.”
Whilst this new approach is presented as “the beginning” it is not the first time the GPhC has looked at developing strategies and action plans to support an EDI agenda. Indeed, when considered in this context it should be viewed as a continuum of the initial “Equality scheme” adopted by the GPhC at the council meeting of 15 September 2010.
That initial 2010 scheme noted:
“The Equality and Human Rights Commission places great emphasis on action planning and delivery of priorities, as opposed to the development of the Scheme as an end in itself. The development of evidence-based and effective action plans for delivery and change in relation to equality is therefore paramount.”
It is therefore unfortunate that the draft strategy does not start with the mapping of concrete outcomes and achievements of the last decade of 3 such GPhC schemes. This would help to ensure that this strategy is robust and more than just warm words.
The consultation details 3 overarching themes which are:
Theme 1: To make regulatory decisions that are demonstrably fair, lawful, and so free from discrimination and bias.
Theme 2: To use our standards to proactively help tackle discrimination in all pharmacy settings and to make sure everyone can access person-centred care, fostering equality of health outcomes.
Theme 3: To lead by example and demonstrate best practice within our organisation, holding ourselves to the same high standards we expect of others.
Each theme has a number of objectives and a number of proposed outcomes but they do not detail any tangible measurable outcomes. Furthermore, assurance and monitoring of the EDI strategy exclude any independent outside stakeholders.
Please complete our PDA survey
The PDA encourages members to respond to the consultation directly. Members are also asked to complete the PDA survey below. You could also feed any concerns or experiences into the PDA EDI Networks or you can email your views to policy@the-pda.org. The PDA will endeavour to incorporate these into their submission.
You can access the GPhC consultation document here.
Click below to complete the PDA survey. This should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
The survey deadline is 5 pm on Monday 31 May 2021.