Pharmacy context
This is a traditional community pharmacy, situated on a main road of a suburban residential area, serving the local population. It mainly prepares NHS prescription medicines, and it supplies several local care homes. The pharmacy orders people's repeat prescriptions on their behalf. A large number of people also receive their medicines in weekly multi‐compartment compliance packs to help make sure they take them safely. The pharmacy provides other NHS services including flu vaccinations, the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS), local minor ailment treatments and substance misuse treatment services. It also has a home delivery service.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy does not always keep up to date records of controlled drugs (CD) transactions in accordance with legal requirements. And it does not have an effective way of monitoring the pharmacy’s CD stock. It has some written instructions to help make sure the team provides safe services. But pharmacy team members do not confirm when they have read these instructions, so they might not always work effectively. The team reviews its mistakes which helps it to learn from them. And the team members understand the importance of protecting people's information, and their role in supporting vulnerable people.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy is facing difficulties recruiting staff. This means team members frequently need additional support to make sure people receive their prescription medicines on time. And the pharmacy does not progress staff training in a timely fashion. So team members may delay obtaining the knowledge and skills relevant to their role.
Principle 3. Premises
The premises are clean, secure and suitable for the pharmacy’s services. It has a private consultation room, so people can have confidential conversations with pharmacy team members and maintain their privacy.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy’s working practices are generally effective, which helps make sure people receive safe services. It gets its medicines from licensed suppliers. The pharmacy team has some checks to make sure medicines are in good condition and suitable to supply, but it does not keep supporting records to confirm this.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy team has the equipment and facilities that it needs for the services it provides. The equipment is appropriately maintained and used in a way that protects people's privacy.
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 does 'pharmacy has not met all standards' mean?
When a pharmacy has not met all standards, they are required to complete an improvement action plan, which you can find via a link at the top left of this page. We monitor progress to check the improvements are made and inspect again after six months to make sure the pharmacy is maintaining these improvements. A new report will then be published.