Pharmacy type
Internet / Distance Selling
Pharmacy context
COVID-19
Relevant standards
- 1.1 - The risks associated with providing pharmacy services are identified and managed
Why this is notable practice
The pharmacy is managing the large increase in people signing up for its services. And the large increase in the number of electronic prescriptions (EPS) it downloads daily. It is ensuring that people have up-to-date information about the delivery of their medicines.
How the pharmacy did this
The pharmacy was giving priority to certain types of prescriptions. For example, prescriptions for people over 70, prescription orders that were already five days from the prescribed date and orders that the customer care team flag as urgent, such as inhalers.
It had worked with NHS Digital to develop a process to return or reset a bulk selection of prescriptions on the NHS spine, should the need arise. And it had plans to communicate this to people using its services if this action was taken. The pharmacy had identified the slowest part of the dispensing process was dispensing part-packs. So, they identified the best medicines to pre-pack into the most common prescribed quantities. It had recruited extra staff to do this and it had extended the range of medicines that could be pre-packed.
The pharmacy purchasing team provided daily updates to the management team on owing levels and the market situation. Pharmacists had been briefed to identify potential instances of medicine stockpiling and discourage this by way of discussion with the person and their GP. The pharmacy customer care teams were applying extra vigilance in identifying and discouraging cases of early ordering for stockpiling.
The pharmacy had made changes to the standard email templates. And it had placed banners on its website and implemented push messages on its smartphone application. It was also using blog posts and social media posts to communicate with people. The pharmacy has a dedicated coronavirus information hub on the website for people to access. This included a service status page which was updated when the expected prescription order delay time changed.
What difference this made to patients
People are receiving their medicines before they run out. They are not experiencing serious delays with receipt of medicines. People using the pharmacy have up-to-date information on their prescription order and any delays with receipt of their medicines.
Highlighted standards
We have identified the standards most likely and least likely to be met in inspections, and highlighted examples of notable practice for each of these standards; to help everyone learn from others and to support continuous improvement: