Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 14/06/2019
Pharmacy context
This is a community pharmacy located in a residential area of West Hamstead in North West London. The pharmacy dispenses NHS and private prescriptions. It offers a few services such as Medicines Use Reviews (MURs), the New Medicines Service (NMS), a minor ailments scheme, smoking cessation and travel vaccinations. And the pharmacy supplies some people with their medicines inside multi-compartment compliance aids, if they find it difficult to take their medicines on time.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy manages most risks associated with its services appropriately. Team members record mistakes that occur during the dispensing process, they learn from these and act to prevent similar mistakes happening. Members of the pharmacy team understand how they can protect the welfare of vulnerable people. But the pharmacy does not always maintain all of its records, in accordance with the law. This could mean that team members may not have all the information they need if problems or queries arise.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has enough staff to manage its workload safely. Members of the pharmacy team understand their roles and responsibilities. And they complete ongoing training to help keep their skills and knowledge up to date.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy’s premises are clean, secure and provide a professional environment for the delivery of its services.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy obtains medicines from reputable sources. But it sometimes stores medicines in poorly labelled containers. This makes it harder for staff to check the expiry date, assess the stability or take any necessary action if the medicine is recalled. In general, team members ensure that most of the pharmacy’s services are provided safely and effectively. But they don’t always record information for people that receive higher-risk medicines. This makes it difficult for them to show that appropriate advice has been provided when these medicines are supplied. And, the pharmacy does not always provide descriptions of medicines that are supplied inside compliance packs. This means that people may not have all the information they need to take their medicines safely.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment and facilities it needs to provide its services safely.
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 |