Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 21/04/2023
Pharmacy context
The pharmacy is in a busy shopping precinct in Maidstone town centre. It provides an NHS dispensing service. And additional services, including the New Medicine Service, flu vaccinations, blood pressure checks and emergency hormonal contraception against a Patient Group Direction. It also provides medicines as part of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service. The pharmacy supplies medications in multi-compartment compliance packs to a large number of people who live in their own homes to help them manage their medicines. And it provides substance misuse medications to a small number of people. The pharmacy receives most of its prescriptions electronically.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy identifies and manages the risks associated with its services to help provide them safely. And team members understand their role in protecting vulnerable people. The pharmacy records and regularly reviews any mistakes that happen during the dispensing process. And it uses this information to help minimise any future risk and help make its services safer. The pharmacy regularly seeks feedback from people who use the pharmacy. And it largely keeps its records up to date, but it doesn’t always ensure that its responsible pharmacist record is completed correctly.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has enough trained team members to provide its services safely. They work well together to ensure that the workload is well managed. And they are provided with some ongoing training to maintain their knowledge and skills. They can raise any concerns or make suggestions and can take professional decisions to ensure people taking medicines are safe. And these are not affected by the pharmacy’s targets.
Principle 3. Premises
The premises provide a safe, secure, and clean environment for the pharmacy's services. And people can have a conversation with a team member in a private area.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy provides its services safely and manages them well. And it dispenses medicines into multi-compartment compliance packs safely. The pharmacy highlights prescriptions for higher-risk medicines so that there is an opportunity to speak with people when they collect these medicines. And it highlights prescriptions for controlled drugs to help minimise the chance of these being handed out after the prescription has expired. The pharmacy gets its medicines from reputable suppliers and stores them properly. It responds appropriately to drug alerts and product recalls. This helps make sure that its medicines and devices are safe for people to use. People with a range of needs can access the pharmacy’s services.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment it needs to provide its services safely. It uses its equipment to help protect people’s personal information.
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 |