Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 28/03/2023
Pharmacy context
This is a community pharmacy located inside a small GP surgery. It is situated in the village of Halton, North-East of Lancaster. The pharmacy dispenses NHS prescriptions, private prescriptions and sells over-the-counter medicines. The pharmacy supplies medicines in multi-compartment compliance aids for some people to help them take the medicines at the right time. A post office counter, operated by a different company, was located inside the pharmacy’s retail area.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy had written procedures to help the team work effectively. But the procedures had not been fully adopted. So members of the team may not always understand what is expected of them. The pharmacy keeps the records it needs to by law. And members of the team understand how to keep private information safe. They record things that go wrong and discuss them to help identify learning. But they do not review the records. So learning opportunities may be missed and there could be a similar mistake.
Principle 2. Staff
There are enough staff to manage the pharmacy's workload and they are appropriately trained for the jobs they do. Members of the pharmacy team complete some additional training to help them keep their knowledge up to date.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy premises are suitable for the services provided. A room is available to enable private conversations.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy's services are easy to access. And it manages and provides them safely. It gets its medicines from recognised sources, stores them appropriately and carries out regular checks to help make sure that they are in good condition. But members of the pharmacy team do not always know when they are handing out higher-risk medicines. So they might not always be able to check that the medicines are still suitable, or give people advice about taking them.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
Members of the pharmacy team have access to the equipment they need for the services they provide. And they maintain the equipment so that it is safe to use.
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 |