Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 29/11/2019
Pharmacy context
A traditional local Boots pharmacy situated on the outskirts of Andover. It is located with 3 other shops next to a small carpark within a largely residential area. The pharmacy is located on a main road and is surrounded by residential and a few small business properties and is within walking distance of many of the local properties. The majority of pharmacy customers are elderly local residents although a significant proportion of local families use its services. There is a prescription collection service and an electronic prescription service from 4 local surgeries from where prescriptions are collected or received electronically on a daily basis. The pharmacy is open 8.30am to 7.00pm Monday, 8.30am to 6.30pm Tuesday to Friday and 8.30am to 12 noon on Saturday.
Pharmacy activity is centred around NHS dispensing although there is good uptake of additional services such as the Flu vaccination service, Medicines Use reviews (MURs) and the new medicines service (NMS). 7,200 NHS prescription items are dispensed per month approximately 25% of which are brought in by customers on foot, 60% of which are electronic and the remainder are collected from surgeries on behalf of patients. The pharmacy also dispenses medicines into the Boots monitored dosage system trays (DDS) for 6 patients
Other services include free Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC) under a Patient Group Direction (PGD), anti-malarials under the Boots on line prescribing scheme and substance misuse services for eight patients, two of whom have daily supervised consumption of doses.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
Overall, the pharmacy identifies risks in a satisfactory manner. The team understands its role in protecting the welfare of vulnerable people. The pharmacy protects people's private information appropriately. It adequately maintains most of its records in accordance with the law. And, members of the pharmacy team monitor the safety of their services by recording their mistakes and learning from them. But, they don’t always record enough detail, which makes it harder for them to spot patterns and help prevent the same things happening again. And they may not have enough information available if problems or queries arise in the future.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has adequate numbers of staff to manage its workload safely. Pharmacy team members understand their roles and responsibilities. And, they keep their skills and knowledge up to date by completing regular training.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy's premises provide an adequate environment to deliver healthcare services. The pharmacy is clean. And, it has a separate space where private conversations can take place.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy’s services are largely delivered in a safe manner. The pharmacy obtains its medicines from reputable sources. It usually stores and generally manages its medicines appropriately. And, team members routinely identify people receiving higher-risk medicines. But, they don’t always record relevant information. This makes it harder for them to show that people are provided with the right advice to take their medicines safely.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the relevant equipment and facilities it needs to provide its services safely. Its equipment is clean and protects people’s privacy in a suitable manner.
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 |