Newtons Pharmacy (1032051) - Improvement action plan

The pharmacy doesn't have a complete set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the team to follow. And the SOPs have not been reviewed for quite a number of years. Several SOPs do not reflect how the pharmacy operates and some do not cover legal requirements such as the Responsible Pharmacist (RP) Regulations. Not all the team members have signed the SOP signature sheets to confirm they have read the SOPs. And some SOPs such as the one for delivering medicines to people’s homes are not followed by all team members.

• SOP templates from NPA were used and amended. Staff have been reading and signing.
• Controlled drug SOPs reviewed to include reference to electronic CD register
• Delivery SOP reviewed, but the need to recruit new delivery staff and current distancing measures will delay changes and will mean further changes – the increased demand means paper duplicate book may be impractical – investigate software options
• Stock date checking requirements discussed among team with emphasis on completing each month
• Near miss and dispensing error recording elements of Pharmsmart set up (former subscription had expired) – team discussion on principles of near miss reporting
• Pharmacist to make determined effort to avoid dispensing and checking items