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The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has announced that the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, David Webb will be among the keynote speakers at the Pharmacy Odyssey Conference on 13 October. He and other special guests will discuss the future of community pharmacy within the NHS, during a day of insight and practical advice for pharmacy teams. The NPA promises expert opinion on the current pressures in the sector and a thorough exploration of the long-term picture. NPA Director of Membership, Simon Tebbutt, explains: "With the NPA centenary in 2021 behind us, this will be a foray into the future - mapping the coming decade, and next half-century - as well as covering the many challenges of the present time." The theme of the conference, to be held online and sponsored by Novo Nordisk, is Pharmacy Odyssey: Services, Supply and Sustainability.

Asian Media Group will hold the inaugural Pharmacy Business Diversity Conference on Thursday December 9 - a ground-breaking event exploring and showcasing diversity and inclusion in the pharmaceutical industry. The conference, themed 'Change the Ratio', will be be chaired by BBC presenter Clive Myrie and held virtually between 10am and 5pm. While both both RPS and ABPI are supporting the conference as associate sponsors, Well Pharmacy, the UK's largest independent pharmacy chain, is the headline sponsor of the event that will have some of Britain's most inspiring leaders and influential diversity and inclusion practitioners. These leaders will share their knowledge and experience whilst offering tangible steps to positively promote and implement diversity, inclusion and equality in workplace. Check pharmacy business website for more information.

Now is the best time for community pharmacy to integrate its model of NHS representation and support to ensure better outcomes for contractors, said James Wood, director of Contractor & LPC Support, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC). It is important for the sector to adapt to the new landscape and address challenges such as workforce, digital data, integration of pharmacy services, and medicines optimisation, he said during the first session of the sixth annual Pharmacy Business Conference held online on Tuesday, September 21. Under the new system, every part of England will be covered by integrated care systems (ICSs) from April 2022. ICSs have been created to bring about big changes in how health and care services in England are planned, paid for and delivered. They are a key part of the direction of travel for the NHS as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Fife-based trainee pharmacist and Honorary Secretary of the PDA LGBT+ Network, Soh Xi Ken has won the Scottish Trades Union Congress' (STUC) Equality Award. One of Scotland's leading LGBT+ campaigners and Honorary Secretary of the PDA's LGBT+ Network has been recognised for his advocacy work for LGBT+ pharmacists in Scotland. Soh Xi Ken of the PDA received the Equality Award at the STUC Annual Congress in April 2023 in Dundee. The award praised Xi Ken's tireless advocacy for LGBT+ workers within pharmacies in Scotland, highlighting his personal experience of homophobia in Scotland and his home country, Malaysia. In May 2021, Xi Ken became a founding member of the PDA LGBT+ Network's committee and was elected as their first Honorary Secretary. The PDA LGBT+ Network is the first of its kind in the pharmacy world and has made a significant difference to the profile of LGBT+ people in the profession. Xi Ken and others within the PDA LGBT+ Network spotted that there was a lack of LGBT+-specific guidance given to pharmacy students and that their unique and specific health needs were not being addressed as part of the pharmacy education that they received.

The journey on building inclusive teams and increasing ethnic diversity and representation at all levels is never ending, said Sanjay Bhandari, chair at Kick It Out. "I think you can set the direction but it's quite difficult to set the destination with these things," Bhandari, who is part of the government-sponsored Parker review into the ethnic diversity of UK boards said during a panel discussion on Inclusive Leadership held as part of the Pharmacy Business Diversity Conference on Thursday (December 9). He said the aim of the review was to fix a destination like a milestone, it's not the ultimate destination. Bhandari highlighted that "most organisations have not even started and so a good way of getting started was by the end of 2021 to have at least one British born director of colour on your board for the FTSE 100 (companies)." The idea of the review is to "focus on that pathway and filling the hole inthedoughnut," Bhandari said.

Alliance Healthcare, the UK's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, has pledged to support the global efforts to cut carbon emissions, as set out at the recent UN Climate Change Conference, COP26. The company's pledge is in line with its aim to create "healthier futures and thebusiness", on which it has been working on for years. It aims to become the most sustainable independent full-line pharmaceutical wholesaler in the UK by 2030, ensuring to remain the sustainable partner of choice for its customers and manufacturers.