| Standard not met | Reason | Action being taken by the Pharmacy | By when | Notification By Pharmacy Improvements Made |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | The pharmacy does not properly identify and manage all the risks with its services, including for supplies of its unlicenced treatments. It does not have written procedures for all its activities and some procedures it does have are not relevant to way team members work. The pharmacy has an incomplete documented risk assessment which doesn’t sufficiently identify all the key risks associated with providing its services. And it doesn’t implement all the actions documented in the risk assessment. |
SOPs to be updated – including procedures relevant to new operational workflow. Additional risk assessment to be completed and reviewed. We are in talks to onboard a 3rd part ID verification service. It would be great if we could get your assistance in understanding how other internet pharmacies operate in terms of ID verification and what the relevant legislation says regarding this. |
30/08/2024 | 20/12/2024 |
| 1.2 | The pharmacy does not meaningfully audit and monitor the quality and safety of its services, including audits of prescribing against its prescribing policies. It does not audit and monitor the supplies it makes against its policies. And when it identifies improvements to the way the service operates it does not always act on this information. |
Audits to be established in order to verify that the prescriber is following the prescribing pathway. We will correspond with repeat pts every 3-6 monthly to ensure patient satisfaction, and complete a patient review form if requested. Similar to the NMS. Prescriber to digitally log patient notes from their consultation with the patient on a shared system which can be reviewed by the SI and can be used to determine appropriate supply and be used for auditing purposes. Ensure all risk assessment items are reviewed and actioned appropriately where justified. Pharmacist to log interventions, consultations and notes in relation to prescriptions and the supply of medicines. All communications to be logged. |
30/08/2024 | 20/12/2024 |
| 3.1 | The pharmacy’s website does not clearly explain how its services operate, and it appears transactional in nature. People select a product before being asked to complete an online consultation for the prescriber. This means people may not always receive the most appropriate treatment. And the website makes unsubstantiated claims about unlicensed medicines. |
To add in a page on the website to clearly explain the process of how we offer services, to clarify that medications prescribed are unlicenced use and prescribed by a licenced prescriber. To explain the nature of unlicenced medications. Patients will be unable to select a specific product that they will be prescribed. All items will be prescribed following consultation. To make it clear that the medication to be received by the patient is at the discretion of the prescriber. Wording to be amended on the website regarding the claims made. |
30/08/2024 | 20/12/2024 |
| 4.2 | The pharmacy does not have adequate safeguards to ensure the safe and effective delivery of its services. It does not always have sufficient information or use the information it has to ensure people receive medicines suitable for them to use. |
Prescriber to log patient notes from their consultation with the patient on a shared system which can be reviewed by the SI and Can be used for interventions and audit purposes. Screening process to be implemented for all new orders. RP to screen all new orders. Calls, notes, interventions, PMH, to be logged. All new female pts or those with feminine names to be contacted via phone call during the screening process. New dedicated pharmacy phoneline established for patient contacts. Treatment justification policies to be updated and reviewed. |
30/08/2024 | 20/12/2024 |
| 4.3 | The pharmacy attaches dispensing labels to its medicines, which do not contain its address and so do not comply with current law. The labels on its stock medicine bottles do not always show the required details. They are often blurred or missing print such as batch number and expiry date of the medicine. |
SOP established for printing of labels to include batch number and expiry date. Log for filling of bottles to be established, which included checking of the print out quality to ensure legibility. |
30/08/2024 | 20/12/2024 |
Pharmacy inspections
Inspection reports and learning from inspections