Safeguarding vulnerable adults and children

Pharmacy type

Community

Pharmacy context

This is a medium sized pharmacy which is situated in the main street of a village. It dispenses some 5,000 items per month split between walk-in and repeat collection and delivery prescriptions items. It provides for 100 MDS patients and a number of methadone / suboxone patients. It also provides eMAS, Gluten Free and Smoking Cessation. There are also services provided under NHS PGDs such as Emergency Hormonal Contraception. No vaccinations are offered and there is a delivery service. There is a repeat prescription collection service but no managed repeat service.

Relevant standards

• 1.8 - Children and vulnerable adults are safeguarded

Why this is poor practice

There is a poor level of awareness of safeguarding children and other vulnerable people and the employer has not carried out appropriate pre-employment screening.

What the shortcomings are

The pharmacist was not able to explain the actions that would be taken to safeguard children and vulnerable adults and had not undertaken the required national online training. The pharmacist was not registered with the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) membership scheme and was not aware of the system. Her employer had also not checked her registration status as required.

What improvements are required

All pharmacy staff should be receive appropriate safeguarding training and checks on the status of pharmacy staff should be routinely undertaken to ensure professionals are safe to work.