**DEADLINE EXTENDED** Nominate a female pharmacy professional for our Women to Watch 2021 list

Help us find and celebrate brilliant, unrecognised women who are accomplishing great things in pharmacy.
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Open access article

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has made this feature article free to access in order to help promote greater inclusion and diversity in the profession.

**DEADLINE NOW EXTENDED TO 23:59 ON TUESDAY 31 AUGUST 2021**

In 2020, The Pharmaceutical Journal launched a nationwide search to find women in the pharmacy profession who were achieving great things and deserved greater recognition.

The aim was to help tackle the deficit of women in senior positions in pharmacy and raise the profile of the work of female pharmacy professionals. 

The result was our Women to Watch 2020 list, which featured 12 phenomenal women, all of whom had broken new ground for pharmacy and pushed boundaries in their respective fields. Click here to read more about the experiences of those who were included in this list.

Following the tremendous success of this initiative, we are once again inviting nominations for women who have had a demonstrably positive influence on patient care or colleagues that should be celebrated more widely.

This initiative is part of the #PJMindTheGap campaign, which aims to highlight social inequalities that exist in pharmacy and is part of a wider programme of work by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society on inclusion and diversity.

What do we want to do?

The aim of Women to Watch 2021 is to recognise and celebrate the achievements of female pharmacy professionals who are furthering the profession, but whose work is currently going largely unrecognised. We want to identify female role models within the pharmacy profession who can inspire others, as well as encourage the future generation of female pharmacy professionals to be brave and reach their full potential.

This is not an ‘award’, but recognition for an individual’s contribution to the profession and/or society. There will be no ‘winners’ or ‘losers’. We merely hope to profile those who have not yet been recognised yet and encourage them to carry on achieving. 

How will we do this?

We are asking you to nominate women in UK pharmacy that you know are doing fantastic work. We want to profile them in The Pharmaceutical Journal and help provide inspiration to others.

Nominations will be assessed by The Pharmaceutical Journal team and a panel of external contributors and we will contact each successful nominee personally before publication.

Each nominee that comprises the final Women to Watch list will be profiled in The Pharmaceutical Journal and will receive a special trophy.

How to nominate someone

Individuals can submit a nomination by completing the nomination form below or via this link. Alternatively, the form can also be downloaded using this QR code:

Please ensure all of the required information in the nomination form is provided. We will be unable to accept partially completed nominations.

Successful nominations will contain concrete, quantitative evidence of their impact on patients or healthcare services, and include testimonials from other pharmacists, patients or healthcare colleagues.

We want to hear how nominees have overcome barriers and shown courage in their work, and their potential in the future.

Who can nominate?

We invite nominations from any individual working in the health sector. We would ask that individuals only nominate one nominee if possible, as we aim to publish a diverse list of women from all sectors and locations.

Who can be nominated?

Any nominee who fulfills the following criteria will be put forward for the shortlist. They must:

  • Be working or training as a pharmacy professional within the UK. This includes:
    • Pharmacists (including those provisionally registered);
    • Pharmacy students;
    • Preregistration trainees;
    • Pharmacy technicians;
    • Pharmacy assistants/counter staff.
  • Identify as female;
  • Not currently or previously be elected, or paid, to sit on the board of a national organisation or executive committee that has more than 500 members. This includes:
    • The Royal Pharmaceutical Society;
    • General Pharmaceutical Council;
    • National Pharmacy Association;
    • Pharmacy Defence Association;
    • Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee;
    • British Pharmaceutical Students’ Association;
    • Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK;
    • NHS.
  • Nominees can be members or ambassadors of the aforementioned organisations, a trustee of a charity or a previous winner of a local award, such as employee of the month.

Who are we looking for?

Nominees will be assessed on the following criteria; however, please note that nominees do not have to demonstrate evidence of all five qualities in order to qualify for the list.

CriteriaDescriptionExamples may include
1) PotentialThe nominee is developing in their career, but has a bright future ahead of them and has demonstrated some leadership qualities.The nominee is being proactive, and leading or playing an active role in internal and/or external projects.
2) DriveThe nominee has a clear vision for their work and has been able to overcome any challenges faced.The nominee has created an innovative service or set up their own business to address a need despite little support or infrastructure.
3) Impact and reproducibilityThe nominee has made a quantifiable difference to patients, colleagues, the profession or health service at a local or national level.The nominee has developed a successful clinical service/initiative with measurable outcomes that could be scaled and replicated in other pharmacy departments.
4) InfluenceThe nominee has had a positive effect on those both within and outside of their immediate surroundings.Through their work, the nominee has created opportunities for joint working or learning with external departments and/or members of other health professions.
5) Integrity, inclusion and diversityThe nominee has made efforts to include and advocate for others in the way they work, and has demonstrated a commitment to doing the right thing.The nominee has developed an initiative which recognises, advocates and celebrates the contribution of a diverse employee group or addresses the needs of a diverse patient population.

The Pharmaceutical Journal team and external panel of contributors will take the individual circumstances and diversity of candidates into account when drawing up the final list of Women to Watch. You will also have the option to submit any information on protected characteristics, or other personal factors, that may be relevant to the application and should be taken into account when considering the nomination.

Nominees will be assessed on their work, which can be both paid or unpaid (e.g. volunteer work).

What qualifies as ‘supporting evidence’?

The panel can only assess the evidence provided within the nomination form; therefore, we strongly encourage you to include as much evidence as possible to illustrate how the nominee has gone above and beyond in their career so far.

Examples of evidence could include:

  • Survey results showing a particular service has improved patient quality of life and/or experience;
  • Audit data showing the clinical impact of a new service;
  • Testimonials from colleagues and/or patients;
  • Data representing enhanced operational efficiency and/or cost reduction;
  • Local recognition of success e.g. prizes, awards — or lack of, if appropriate!

Please ensure the evidence is as recent as possible. Incomplete evidence will be accepted and considered only in the context of the whole application.

For more information:

For more information, or if you have any questions, please get in contact at editor@pharmaceutical-journal.com.

Nomination Form

To open the nomination form in a new browser window click this link. It should take no more than eight minutes to complete. 

Alternatively, you can access the nomination form using this QR code:

NOW EXTENDED!! The deadline for nominations is 23:59 on Tuesday, 31 August 2021.

Have you signed the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s pledge for inclusion and wellbeing? Click here to find out more.

Last updated
Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ, July 2021, Vol 307, No 7951;307(7951)::DOI:10.1211/PJ.2021.1.93626

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