Inclusive pharmacy practice (IPP) is a partnership between the Office of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer and 15 other national partners.

IPP focuses on making the workplace more inclusive for pharmacy professionals, with a senior leadership that reflects our diverse communities, to improve health inequalities in the population. It involves open conversations and meaningful actions to improve the experience of both patients and pharmacy professionals.

It is about engaging with local communities, helping to improve their health, and addressing the inequalities that people – particularly those from ethnically diverse backgrounds – can experience. For example, COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on people from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Our IPP principles

The 16 partners have signed up to these IPP principles for all pharmacy professionals:

Theme 1: leadership and representation

Principle 1: We will strive towards pharmacy professionals being an exemplar among UK health professionals for equality, diversity, inclusion, fairness and belonging.

Principle 2: We will commit as professionals to value all people and to adopt and promote a culture of zero tolerance to all kinds of harassment, bullying and discrimination in the workplace.

Theme 2: education and training

Principle 3: We will proactively seek to learn and understand communities and cultures so that we can be more effective health and care practitioners and providers.

Theme 3: healthcare service delivery

Principle 4: We will champion national and local policies and initiatives to address health and workforce inequalities.

Our partners

We are working closely with 15 partner organisations from across pharmacy who feel as strongly as we do about improving practice and achieving positive change.

Leaders from the following organisations have a seat on the IPP Advisory Board and representatives take part in our Improving Practice and Engagement Group for IPP to collaborate and share learning including organising the first ever IPP Week in November 2025:

• Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK
• College of Mental Health Pharmacy
• Community Pharmacy England
• General Pharmaceutical Council
• Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists
• NHS England – Workforce, Training and Education
• Pharmacists’ Defence Association
• Pharmacy Schools Council
• Pharmacy Technicians of Colour
• Primary Care Pharmacy Association
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• National Pharmacy Association
• UK Black Pharmacists’ Association
• UK Clinical Pharmacy Association
• UK Health Security Agency

Further information and resources

Read the Pharmacy Workforce Race Equality Standard report and Inclusive Pharmacy Practice Delivery Plan, which set out important actions to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in pharmacy teams across the NHS.

Sign up to receive our Inclusive Pharmacy Practice bulletin: NHS England » Inclusive pharmacy practice bulletin

Visit our Inclusive pharmacy practice Futures collaboration platform page for more information, case studies and links to webinars about population health management. The Futures collaboration platform requires a log in.