Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 17/06/2021
Pharmacy context
This was a community pharmacy attached to, but independent of a supermarket, serving a mixed community, dispensing around 5500 NHS items per month and a small quantity of private dispensing.
The pharmacy was seven-day trading and open extended hours:
Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm
Saturday 9am to 5:30pm
Sunday 10am to 2pm
The NHS items included supply to around 70 patients in MDS trays.
Other NHS services provided were the standard Scottish pharmacy contract services – CMS, eMAS, smoking cessation and the gluten free food prescribing service.
Services provided under PGDs were unscheduled care, emergency hormonal contraception, chloramphenicol ophthalmic products, post-immunisation paracetamol, pharmacy first and chlamydia treatment.
A substance misuse service was provided to 13 supervised and 19 ‘takeaway’ methadone patients, and 1 supervised and 1 takeaway buprenorphine patients.
Other services included blood pressure measurement, diabetes testing, flu vaccination and vitality checks.
There was a consultation room.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy suitably identifies and manages the risks with its services, including reducing the infection risk during the pandemic. The pharmacy team members follow written processes for the pharmacy’s services to help ensure they provide them safely. They record and review their mistakes to learn from them and make changes to avoid the same mistakes happening again. The pharmacy keeps all the records it needs to by law and keeps people’s private information safe. Team members know who to contact if they have concerns about vulnerable people.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy usually has enough team members qualified and in-training to safely provide its services. The pharmacist and experienced team members adequately support those in-training to suitably complete their tasks. And these team members know how to seek guidance if required. The pharmacy provides learning and development opportunities to ensure team members have the knowledge and skills they need. They know how to make suggestions and raise concerns if they have any to help keep the pharmacy safe.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy is safe and clean, and suitable for the services it provides. It has suitable facilities for people to have conversations with team members in private. The pharmacy is secure when closed. But the dispensary is small for the volume of prescriptions dispensed.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy helps people to access its services which it provides safely. Pharmacy team members follow written processes relevant to the services they provide. They support people by providing them with suitable information and advice to help them use their medicines. And they provide extra written information to people taking higher risk medicines. The pharmacy obtains medicines from reliable sources and stores them properly. Pharmacy team members know what to do if medicines are not fit for purpose.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment it needs to deliver its services. Team members look after this equipment to ensure it works.
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 |