Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 15/11/2022
Pharmacy context
This community pharmacy is in a parade of shops in a residential area of Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Its main services include dispensing NHS prescriptions, selling over-the-counter medicines and providing health advice to people. The pharmacy supplies some medicines in multi-compartment compliance packs, designed to help people remember to take their medicines. And it offers a medicine delivery service to people’s homes.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy appropriately identifies and manages the risks associated with its services. It keeps people’s private information secure. And it uses the feedback that it receives to inform how it manages its services. The pharmacy keeps the records it must by law. Its team members understand how to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. And they engage in some conversations to help reduce risk following mistakes made during the dispensing process.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has a small, dedicated team of people who work together well. Pharmacy team members demonstrate enthusiasm for their roles. They engage in some continual learning to support them in delivering the pharmacy’s services. And they understand how to provide feedback at work.
Principle 3. Premises
Pharmacy team members work
well in the space provided. And they promote access to the pharmacy’s private
consultation facilities. The pharmacy premises are clean and secure. They are
generally maintained to an adequate standard but need some attention to ensure
good access to sinks equipped with running water and hand-washing supplies.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy ensures that its services are accessible to people. It obtains its medicines from reputable sources. And it stores its medicines safely and securely. Pharmacy team members recognise the benefits of engaging people in conversations about their health and their medicines. And they document the outcome of these interventions to support ongoing care. But there are occasions when pharmacy team members work outside of documented procedures when assembling medicines in multi-compartment compliance packs. This could mean they are not always working in the safest and most effective way.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment and facilities it needs for providing its services. And its team members act with care by using the equipment in a way which protects people’s confidentiality.
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 |