Inclusive pharmacy resources
Published: 26 March 2026
This was published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
The Joint National Plan for Inclusive Pharmacy Practice in England aims to bring inclusive pharmacy practice into everyday care for patients and the public.
The plan will support the prevention of ill health and address health inequalities within our diverse communities.
The plan highlights the need for cultural understanding and awareness, so we have compiled a list (below) of current training and resources on culturally competent healthcare delivery, with Health Education England (HEE), Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK), and partners.
More resources and examples of good practice will be added as they become available.
The plan is intended to provide a framework to help organisations progress along the route towards cultural competence and inclusive practice.
Who are these resources for?
These resources are for those in patient care delivery roles, as well as supervisors, trainers and educators of the registered and unregistered pharmacy workforce and early careers pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and students.
The plan has been coproduced by the chief pharmaceutical officer’s team at NHS England and NHS Improvement, RCPharm, and APTUK to work with partners across the pharmacy sector to address equality, diversity and inclusion across all parts of healthcare in England, including what RCPharm and APTUK have already been undertaking.
Explore resources for:
For practice educators
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are central to the NHS, in terms of both employment and service delivery. This session offers the opportunity to consider your role in relation to EDI and explore the key principles involved. There are opportunities throughout the session to apply the learning to practice through carrying out activities and reflecting on these.
Helping others learn
The aim of the Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education (CPPE) learning programme below is to provide an overview of teaching and learning theory for adults and includes case study examples available for use or adaptation in your workplace, with consideration for EDI.
Transgender healthcare
Learn how to:
- Describe issues faced by the transgender and nonbinary community within healthcare;
- Introduce measures to make your pharmacy more inclusive and a safe space for transgender and nonbinary people;
- Demonstrate a team approach to supporting transgender and nonbinary people with health and social care issues.
See the e-learning below:
Includes an option to support the future workforce to develop their professional identity as part of the community, and its diversity, as a community immersion project, see the example below from the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
From FutureLearn is an accessible and timely resource (below) to share with learners and teams.
The meaning and application of cultural competence
An overview (below) related to physiotherapy that offers a range of questions to guide a self-assessment of recruitment and induction to a post, within the context of cultural competence.
- Chartered Society of Physiotherapy – Cultural Competence;
- The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) – Tackling racism in the workplace.
Organisations must step up and help to stamp out prejudice, and build diverse and supportive cultures of respect and fairness for all. The CIPD continues to develop practical content to help people professionals tackle these challenges.
Podcasts are also available that explore inclusion and diversity.
Ethnicity-related microaggressions
What is an ethnicity-related microaggression? What shouldn’t you say? And how to handle it if you experience or witness an ethnicity-related microaggression.
For training programme leads
Differential attainment
Support for anyone coordinating training programmes – it’s written for medical trainees, but can be adapted for supervisors across pharmacy. Includes PowerPoints presentations and notes, and video clips on good practice.
- HEE – Differential Attainment;
- American Society of Health-System Pharmacists podcast – Task Force on Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (detail is from the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (2021) 78, 903-906) (archived).
Articles and references
The following articles and references may help, but may require an Athens account or using the RCPharm e-Library.
- Institutional Strategies to Achieve Diversity and Inclusion in Pharmacy Education.
Author(s): White, Carla; Louis, Brittney; Persky, Adam; Howell, Davon Townsend; Griffin, LaToya M; Simmons-Yon, Amica; Scolaro, Kelly L.
Source: American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education; Jun 2013; vol. 77 (no. 5); p. 97. publication date: Jun 2013. PubMedID: 23788808. Database: Medline.
Centre for Ethnic Health Research
The Centre for Ethnic Health Research provides opportunities to be at the heart of practical solutions, through focused work with communities.
It has established links with the Academic Health Sciences Network; local clinical research networks; local clinical commissioning groups; and Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research partner institutions.
The Centre for Ethnic Health Research offers training and existing infrastructure for public engagement and involvement to help improve the quality, quantity and impact of research output in the area of ethnic and migrant health.
For leadership skills and development
Leadership programmes
Next steps
To find out more about the delivery of culturally competent care and inclusion and diversity, go to our Inclusion and diversity page and join our Action in Belonging, Culture and Diversity group.