Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 02/09/2024
Pharmacy context
This is a community pharmacy in a residential area on the outskirts of Didcot, Oxfordshire. The pharmacy dispenses NHS and private prescriptions, sells over-the-counter medicines, and provides health advice. It also offers a few services such as the New Medicine Service (NMS), local deliveries, blood pressure checks and Pharmacy First. The pharmacy also provides multi-compartment compliance packs for people who find it difficult to manage their medicines. This includes people who live in their own homes and in residential care homes.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy identifies and manages the risks associated with its services in a satisfactory way. Team members understand their role in protecting the welfare of vulnerable people. They suitably protect people’s confidential information. And the pharmacy generally keeps appropriate records that it needs to by law. Members of the pharmacy team manage their mistakes responsibly. But they cannot show that they are always documenting, formally reviewing, or being told about necessary details. This could mean that they may be missing opportunities to spot patterns and prevent similar mistakes happening in future. And some risks are not being managed as well as they could be.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy’s team members have a range of skills and experience. They can also progress and develop their essential training further. The company who owns the pharmacy gives the team access to training resources to complete their ongoing training. This helps keep their skills and knowledge up to date.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy premises present a professional image and generally provide a suitable environment for people to receive healthcare services. A separate space is also available where people can have confidential conversations with the pharmacy team.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
Overall, the pharmacy provides its services in a satisfactory way. Its team members help ensure that people with different needs can easily access the pharmacy's services. And the pharmacy sources its medicines from reputable suppliers. But the pharmacy does not always manage its medicines in the most effective way. The pharmacy has some checks in place to ensure that medicines are not supplied beyond their expiry date. But records to help verify this are missing. And the pharmacy’s team members are not always identifying people who receive higher-risk medicines or making the relevant checks. This makes it difficult for them to show that people are provided with appropriate advice when these medicines are supplied.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the necessary equipment and facilities it needs to provide its services safely. Team members largely keep them clean. And the pharmacy’s equipment is used in an appropriate way to keep people's private information safe.
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 |