Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 14/08/2023
Pharmacy context
This is a community pharmacy close to a Health Centre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The pharmacy is open for 100 hours every week. It dispenses NHS and private prescriptions. The pharmacy offers a few services such as the New Medicine Service (NMS), local deliveries, and free blood pressure measurements. It also supplies many people with their medicines inside multi-compartment compliance packs if they find it difficult to take them.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy identifies and manages the risks associated with its services in a satisfactory way. It has the insurance it needs to protect people if things go wrong. Members of the pharmacy team understand their role in protecting the welfare of vulnerable people. And they largely deal with their mistakes responsibly. But they are not always recording and reviewing all the necessary details. This could mean that they may be missing opportunities to spot patterns and prevent similar mistakes happening in future. The team could also do more to protect people’s confidential information appropriately and keep all the pharmacy’s records up to date.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has enough staff to manage its workload appropriately. And the pharmacy provides its services using a team with various levels of experience. But they are not provided with many resources to complete their ongoing training. This could affect how well their skills and knowledge are kept up to date.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy's premises provide an adequate environment to deliver services from. The pharmacy is secure. And people can have a conversation with a team member in a private area.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
People with diverse needs can easily access the pharmacy’s services. The pharmacy obtains its medicines from reputable sources and stores as well as manages its medicines appropriately. Members of the pharmacy team suitably dispose of people’s unwanted medicines. And ensure recalled items are dealt with appropriately. But the pharmacy does not always identify people who receive higher‐risk medicines and make the relevant checks. This limits its ability to show that people are provided with appropriate advice when supplying these medicines. And it does not always assess all the risks involved with some of its working practices when it provides some services.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has an appropriate range of equipment and facilities to provide its services. Its equipment is kept suitably clean.
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 |