Marking 1 March, Zero Discrimination Day, Pharmacy Forum NI is pleased to launch a new initiative aimed at advancing, encouraging and supporting Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) in the Northern Ireland pharmacy workplace.
As part of our launch, we are organising throughout 2021 a 3-part EDI CPD webinar series – Diversity & Inclusion in NI Pharmacy – Creating the right Culture. The first of these will take place on Tuesday 23 March @7-8:30pm focusing on the theme: The case for inclusion and handling race.
The series is set up to promote a culture of diversity and inclusion within the NI pharmacy profession that aims to cultivate a safe and inclusive workplace environment; keeps us in step with our increasingly diversified workforce and population; and supports current and future workforce needs.
An evolving long-term EDI agenda
The Forum’s EDI initiative was prompted in summer 2020 by reports of racism in NI pharmacy that were covered by the local, regional and industry the media at the time. The Forum issued a public statement condemning “any discrimination – be that racial, sectarian, disability, sexual orientation or in any other way”. Alongside, the Pharmacy Forum NI Board further agreed to undertake a long-term programme of work dealing with EDI at large, aimed at creating the right culture in NI pharmacy.
Since then, the Forum has set up a new EDI Working Group (WG), set up a new online resource hub highlighting PASS support available for anyone facing discrimination, harassment or bullying, and among other activity, we are continuing to work on the roll-out of the 2021 webinar series.
If you’d like to find out more about our EDI activity or get involved, please contact Roisin.Hughes@psni.org.uk.