Equality and discrimination

COVID-19 staff assessments may miss those most at risk, say pharmacy bodies

Black healthcare staff may have their risk from COVID-19 underestimated as assessments are not separating out different non-white ethnic groups when recommending mitigating measures, say pharmacy bodies.…

Pharmacy regulator to blind fitness-to-practise investigations against racial bias

The General Pharmaceutical Council is to introduce blind reviews during its fitness-to-practise investigations in an attempt to remove bias from the system. …

Pharmacy Schools Council to ensure BAME patient communities are ‘properly reflected’ in MPharm curriculum

The Pharmacy Schools’ Council has said it will conduct an “examination of teaching practices and materials” in the MPharm curriculum to ensure that it properly reflects black, Asian and minority ethnic patient communities.…

The homophobia I faced as a pharmacy student is also evident in our health service

As we celebrate Pride month, pharmacy — and the wider NHS — has a long way to go before it fully supports the health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. …

Disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME populations not explained by cardiometabolic factors, vitamin D or deprivation, researchers find

Variations in cardiometabolic factors, vitamin D levels and socioeconomic or behavioural factors do not adequately explain why COVID-19 disproportionately affects black, Asian and minority ethnic populations.…

More than two-thirds of BAME pharmacists yet to receive COVID-19 risk assessments, survey reveals

More than two-thirds of black, Asian and minority ethnic pharmacists say they have still not been offered COVID-19 risk assessments almost two months after NHS England said employers should risk assess all staff.…

Committee considering ethnicity as a factor in prioritising COVID-19 vaccinations

Government advisers will consider whether ethnicity and deprivation should be taken into account when prioritising who will receive a COVID-19 vaccine first, when one becomes available.…

Well Pharmacy to risk assess all staff for COVID-19 from next week

Well Pharmacy will risk assess all staff for their susceptibility to COVID-19 from next week, the multiple has said.…

BAME patients less likely to take up community pharmacy services in North West London

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the interplay between ethnicity and poor health outcomes has rightly come under scrutiny. A high proportion of those who have lost their lives to COVID-19 were from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups. Pharmacy rarely features in investigations into thi…

We must tear down the barriers to equality for BAME communities highlighted by COVID-19

There are two ways that we can begin to address the long-running health disparities between different ethnic groups, which have been highlighted by the disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.…