We are committed to championing pharmacy and over the past year, we’ve embarked on a journey around inclusion and diversity.
It’s now clear that Covid-19 has impacted disproportionately on Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. It’s highlighted systemic health inequalities that mean these communities are at much greater risk of the virus. These must be now addressed at every level. Our Director for England Ravi Sharma and Board member Mahendra Patel have blogged about our work in this area, and I know more is planned.
In November 2019 I said we would publish our ethnicity pay data alongside our gender pay gap. RPS is not obligated to publish either of these by law but I believe it is important that we lead by example and I hope this will also encourage other organisations to do the same.
On Friday 19th June we will publish our ethnicity pay gap here at RPS for the first time. We already publish data on our gender pay gap and will be publishing our 2020 results on that at the same time. This new information will be used to drive change at RPS and make sure we are being open and transparent about where we need to improve.
I am delighted to also announce that on Monday 22nd June we will publish our inclusion and diversity strategy for the profession. This was built in consultation with you, through surveys, workshops and events held last year. We will provide opportunities for you to feedback on what you think of the report, and to collaborate further with us on making its ambitions a reality. I’m sure we’ll make progress on some issues more quickly than others. There will doubtless be both strides forward and frustrations along the way. But together, we’ll make a difference.
I look forward to implementing this strategy with you.