Regulator committed to breaking down the profession’s barriers to those with disabilities

I was very sorry to read about the author’s experiences in their blog ‘How the pharmacy profession disregarded me and my disability and why it must change’. The author, who wished to remain anonymous, should not have had to face these barriers during their education and training, or career.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is committed to promoting equality, valuing diversity and being inclusive in all its work. Throughout the education and training process, we are clear that all students and trainees should be offered reasonable adjustments, where necessary. The GPhC also has a robust system in place for the registration assessment, in which candidates can apply for reasonable adjustments.

Similarly, once qualified, a pharmacist can expect reasonable adjustments to be offered by their employer, as required in legislation.

In 2019, the GPhC consulted on new standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists, which strengthened requirements for the schools of pharmacy and training providers to meet in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion.

It is also currently developing a new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and would encourage the author or anyone who has had a similar experience to get in contact, in confidence, via communications@pharmacyregulation.org so that we can learn from these experiences and reflect this learning in the new strategy.

Duncan Rudkin, chief executive, General Pharmaceutical Council