| Standard not met | Reason | Action being taken by the Pharmacy | By when | Notification By Pharmacy Improvements Made |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Risk assessments are not accessible to the pharmacy team and there is lack of evidence to show that the pharmacy is following these. |
To make it easy for pharmacy staff to know who the prescribers are on any given day, the prescriber contact details are visible and available so should they need to be contacted regarding orders, customer queries, or discuss prescribing decisions, the pharmacist and the pharmacy team have the information available. A copy of the complete prescribing policy is kept in the pharmacy as a guideline and reference to prescribing limits and red flags for both the responsible pharmacist (RP) and the doctor. The pharmacy team does not have any influence on prescribing decisions other than notifying the prescriber of any additional information that they have been made aware of. They have full independence in utilising their professional expertise in getting prescriptions modified or rejecting them. All RP interventions are recorded in a new log book. Before assessing each order request, the prescriber can see a full history of orders placed by the individual, quantities and frequency of ordering, along with any consultation notes or advisories left previously. If the prescriber needs to contact the patient, they can do so via secure email, if needed the patient is contacted first by the admin team to inform them of the doctor calling them back. Any patient contact is fully logged. Notes left on the customer portal can be accessed by the responsible pharmacist on duty if required. However, they cannot edit the information, or make additional notes. This editable feature is locked to only the prescribers. Near miss logs are located on the wall within the pharmacy and accessible for all pharmacy staff. These will be audited monthly by the superintendent pharmacist and steps taken to try and address issues where possible. Daily RP log is stored on a cloud drive, and is updated daily by the RP and a RP notice is displayed in the pharmacy. |
12/01/2023 | 03/04/2023 |
| 1.2 | The pharmacy has not carried out adequate audits of its prescribing service. |
5% of all prescriptions are audited every month, by the governance lead. Patient safety report is generated each month, feedback is given to individual staff members, training issues identified, pharmacy teams are to take action on any changes, reports are anonymised and shared to all staff members for shared learning purposes, starting January 2023. |
12/01/2023 | 13/03/2023 |
| 1.6 | The pharmacy cannot produce adequate records about private prescriptions. |
Private prescriptions are produced to secure the portal. These are date and time stamped and the RP has full access to this. Only the dispatch note printed by pharmacy team dispensing |
12/01/2023 | 03/04/2023 |
| 2.2 | The pharmacy cannot show that the pharmacist independent prescriber has the necessary competence in the clinical areas they are prescribing for. |
All relevant training certificates were presented to the GPHC following the inspection, and further training is currently being undertaken including a distant learning course on “skills for dermatology” at the Medway School of pharmacy. Once completed, certificates will be provided. Online weight management training courses have already been completed, and certificates provided. The pharmacist independent prescriber is in regular contact with Novo Nordisk (manufacturers of Saxenda), and there are plans to arrange further accredited CPD training in 2023. After the recent audit of our prescribing policy and liaison with Novo Nordisk, the clinical director has decided to stop supply of all weight loss treatments until further training becomes available, and we are able to provide a more robust patient monitoring process for weight management. |
12/01/2023 | 03/04/2023 |
| 3.1 | The pharmacy's website allows people to pre-select prescription-only medicines before they have a consultation with a prescriber. This does not meet GPhC requirements. |
This work has been commissioned to our developers: If a patient selects a treatment, they are diverted to the treatment page, a consultation takes place first. The ability to search for POMS is being removed |
09/03/2023 | 05/06/2023 |
| 4.2 | The pharmacy cannot show that it always make sure relevant information about the medicines it supplies to people using the prescribing service is shared with people’s regular prescribers. It does not have adequate systems to follow up with people about treatments that need ongoing monitoring. And prescribers that it works with do not keep adequate records about prescribing decisions. |
Our primary duty of care is to our patients, our clinical advisory board have reviewed all our treatments and have recommended follow up as per individual treatments. Our service tries to maintain confidentiality and respects patients autonomy , therefore, we give the patients an option to opt in or out for them to have the consultation made available to their GPs. Certain medications are deemed to require a higher level of supervision such as for Saxenda, and in these instances we only supply the medication if the patient agrees for their G.P to be informed. The G.P details are validated before the medicine is supplied. |
12/01/2023 | 03/04/2023 |
Pharmacy inspections
Inspection reports and learning from inspections