The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has called for action to address the attainment gap between Black and White pharmacy students that has continued 10 years after it was first reported.

In particular, it highlighted actions that could be taken by community pharmacy placement providers, as well as other stakeholders involved in training and assessment, to address the disparity between registration pass rates from students from different ethnic backgrounds.

According to the RPS’s report, published today, in 2023 67% of Black or Black British African trainees passed the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration on their first sitting.

When compared to the 90% of White British trainees passing on a first sitting in 2023, this represents a 23% attainment gap.

And while this is less than the 39% attainment gap measured in 2013 – when ethnicity was first recorded alongside pass rate by the GPhC – the RPS highlighted that the issue had continued with ‘a marked absence of concerted and persistent efforts to rectify this issue, resulting in a profound impact on the lives and careers of those affected’.

‘The inertia to address these disparities reflects a deep-seated problem rooted in decades of structural and organisational racism and inequalities,’ lead author Amandeep Kaur Doll, head of professional belonging and engagement at the RPS, and Tase Oputu, chair of the RPS English pharmacy board wrote in a foreword to the report.

Meanwhile, president of the British Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (BPSA), Nonyelum Anigbo, described the differential attainment gap as ‘an issue that continues to hold back many Black trainee pharmacists from becoming qualified’.

‘Year on year, the differential attainment gap leads to the profession losing talented potential pharmacists from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds,’ she said.

‘Equitable changes need to be made to ensure Black pharmacy students and trainees are given opportunities and support to reach their full potential and successfully join the pharmacy workforce,’ she added.

Qualitive analysis commissioned by the GPhC in 2016 found that a ‘complexity’ of issues were contributing to the disparity within pharmacy, the RPS report said.

It highlighted contributing factors such as IT proficiency and adapting to new styles of learning and assessment.

And it added that less confident students, and/or those with accents or a poorer command of English, ‘struggled to build the rapport required for access to personalised feedback from academic tutors’, as well as struggling to form networks with peers from other ethnic backgrounds.

‘In addition, financial pressures, undertaking employment and attending to family commitments were all highlighted as adversely impacting participants’ learning’, particularly among mature students, the report said.

And at foundation training level, ‘candidates were subject to prejudices against their appearance or accent when applying for foundation training placements’, the report suggested.

It also highlighted that quality of placements varied, with some community designated supervisors ‘seen to lack the appropriate knowledge, experience, and commitment to undertake the role effectively’.

But the RPS stressed that ‘many Black-African trainee pharmacists, including overseas students and mature students, are highly motivated, do not experience the impact of the disadvantaging factors and are very successful in their education and training’.

To address the attainment gap, the RPS suggested that ‘improving the overall standard of foundation training provision will help every student, and ultimately improve the quality of community pharmacy care’.

And the report encouraged schools of pharmacy to ‘have a diverse range of academic staff and guest speakers to inspire and motivate students’.

In addition, it highlighted how foundation training providers could ‘ensure their trainees are connected to local and regional multisector networks, or encourage engagement and seek mentorship from professional leadership bodies’.

Recognising and celebrating diversity – including the numerous differing cultural groups within ethnic categories – could support students to feel more integrated, it added.

‘Organisations must ensure they have an inclusive culture, which celebrates diversity of their workforce, addresses systemic and institutional discrimination and bias, and creates a sense of belonging for all their teams,’ the RPS report said.

And it suggested that training and support for supervisors would help them to interact with people from different cultures and respond to their needs.

Employers could also provide protected learning time to help trainees prepare for assessment while juggling other commitments such as family, the RPS suggested.

Its report sets out further actions that could be taken by different stakeholders involved in pharmacist training and assessment.

Lead author Ms Kaur Doll described the findings as a ‘call to action for the entire pharmacy community’.

‘By working together, and implementing the recommendations of the report, we can make a real difference and create a more inclusive and diverse pharmacy profession which ultimately benefits patient care,’ she said.

In October, a working group was set up to address disparities in attainment and awarding of degrees between Black trainee pharmacists and their White counterparts.

The group, led by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), also involves the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association (BPSA), the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), NHS England (NHSE), Pharmacy Schools’ Council and representatives from university Schools of Pharmacy.