Pharmacy Education: Improving Access
Thank you for supporting this important engagement exercise about accessible pharmacy training. We want to listen to the diverse voices of pharmacy students and trainees to continue to shape professional education. As we begin to reform the initial education and training of pharmacists we have commissioned Verve Communications to work with us on a listening exercise to explore in detail what students and trainees feel either encourage, or present obstacles, to access routes into professional training. Verve Communications are holding workshops to talk to pharmacy students and trainees from the groups mentioned below about equality, diversity and inclusion. NHS organisations and universities must tackle discrimination or barriers to equality. The Equality Act 2010 identifies the following protected characteristic groups: age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation. People with caring responsibilities and those who are socio-economically disadvantaged are often added to this list. We recognise that some trainees experience impact through more than one of these characteristics. At this early stage of the programme, we have two series of workshops, each with a different focus:
- Students and trainees from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities
- Students and trainees experiencing other potential barriers e.g., disabilities, sensory impairments or mental ill-health; LGBTQ+ trainees; those from disadvantaged backgrounds; people who began training as mature students.
We are arranging online workshops and offering a range of dates and times.