Pharmacy context
This is an independent retail pharmacy located on a busy thoroughfare in central London, close to Marble Arch. It is open seven days a week and trades late into the evening. The pharmacy mainly supplies over the counter medicines and other healthcare products. It dispenses occasional private prescriptions. The pharmacy does not supply any NHS services. People who visit the pharmacy include a small number of residents and local workers. But a large proportion are visitors to the area, some of whom are from overseas, including many Arabic speaking customers.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy’s working practices are reasonably safe. It keeps people’s personal information secure and it maintains the records it needs to by law. The pharmacy has written instructions to help make sure team members complete tasks in the right way. But they only have a basic knowledge of safeguarding, so they may be less confident in identifying and supporting vulnerable people.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has a small close-knit team. Pharmacy team members work under supervision and they complete the necessary training for their roles. But they do not complete much additional training to make sure they keep their skills and knowledge up to date.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy provides a suitable and professional environment for the delivery of healthcare services.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy offers basic supply only services. It generally sources, stores and supplies medicines safely. The team members carry out some checks to ensure medicines are fit for purpose. But the team does not have a proper system for managing medicine safety alerts and recalls, which could mean the team delays dealing with potentially defective medicines.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the appropriate equipment and facilities for the services it provides.
What do the inspection outcomes mean?
After an inspection each pharmacy receives one overall outcome. This will be either Standards met or Standards not all met
| The pharmacy has met all the standards for registered pharmacies | |
| The pharmacy has not met one or more of the standards for registered pharmacies |
What do the summary findings for each principle mean?
The standards for registered pharmacies are made up of five principles. The pharmacy will also receive one of four possible findings for each of these principles. These are:
| The pharmacy delivers an innovative service and benefits the whole community and performs well against the standards | |
| The pharmacy delivers positive outcomes for patients and performs well against most of the standards | |
| The pharmacy meets all the standards | |
| The pharmacy has not met one or more standards |