Pharmacy context
This is a busy pharmacy
located on a main road close to the centre of Bolton. It trades extended hours,
opening early in the morning and closing late in the evening. The pharmacy
dispenses NHS prescriptions, and it sells a range of over-the-counter medicines.
It supplies a large number of prescription medicines in multi-compartment
compliance packs to help people take their medicines at the right time. The
pharmacy also has a private pharmacist-led prescribing service which people can
access from its website www.prescriptiondoctor.com.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
Overall, the pharmacy's working practices are suitably effective. The pharmacy manages its NHS services reasonably safely and it keeps the records required by law. Team members make records of dispensing mistakes and take action to learn from them to make services safer. The pharmacy has risk assessments and policies for its online prescribing services, but these sometimes lack clarity, which means team members might not always work effectively. And the pharmacy could improve the quality of its audits, so it can demonstrate how it makes sure its online prescribing services are safe.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has enough staff to provide its services. Team members are given some ongoing training. But this is not structured which could make it harder for them to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. They can provide feedback to their manager about the pharmacy and its services, and they feel reasonably well supported.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy provides a suitable environment for people to receive healthcare services. It has a private consultation room that enables it to provide members of the public with the opportunity to have confidential conversations. The pharmacy's website provides information about the pharmacy and the prescribing service so that people can understand the services that are available.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy offers a wide range of healthcare services, which are generally well managed and easy for people to access. The pharmacy obtains its medicines from licensed sources and generally manages them appropriately so that they are safe for people to use. The pharmacy team has professional oversight of all online medicine orders and systems are in place to intervene when there are clinical issues with prescriptions.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the appropriate range of equipment and facilities it needs to provide its services adequately.
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 |
Inspection History
- May 2024 - View inspection report (PDF 128.6KB)
- May 2024 - Improvement action plan
- February 2023 - View inspection report (PDF 129.5KB)
- April 2022 - View inspection report (PDF 137.3KB)
- April 2022 - Improvement action plan
- March 2021 - View inspection report (PDF 134.3KB)
- March 2021 - Improvement action plan
- October 2019 - View inspection report (PDF 142.8KB)
- October 2019 - Improvement action plan