Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 24/04/2019
Pharmacy context
This is a community pharmacy located within a GP surgery in Tadley in Hampshire. A range of people use the pharmacy’s services. The pharmacy dispenses NHS and private prescriptions. It also offers a few services such as Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) and the New Medicine Service (NMS). The pharmacy supplies medicines to care homes and some people receive multi-compartment compliance aids if they find it difficult to take their medicines on time. These aids are assembled from another part of the company’s premises and people either collect these onsite or they are delivered to their homes.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy identifies and manages some risks effectively. The pharmacy team members record mistakes that occur during the dispensing process, they learn from these and act to prevent future mistakes occurring. But, they don’t formally review them or record all the details. This could mean that opportunities to spot patterns or trends are missed. Members of the pharmacy team understand how they can protect the welfare of vulnerable people. And, they protect people’s private information well. In general, the pharmacy keeps its records in accordance with the law.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has enough staff to manage its workload safely. It now ensures that all its team members are undertaking appropriate training for their roles. In general, members of the pharmacy team understand their roles and responsibilities. But, once they have completed basic training, they are not provided with many resources or training materials to help keep their knowledge and skills up to date. This could affect how well they care for people in the future and the advice they give. And, the pharmacy’s team members do not have regular performance reviews. This could mean that gaps in their skills and knowledge are not identified.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy premises are clean, secure and provide a professional environment for the delivery of its services.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy obtains its medicines from reputable sources. But, some medicines are stored in poorly labelled containers. This makes it harder for the team to check the expiry date, assess the stability or take any necessary action if the medicine is recalled. The pharmacy team makes checks to ensure the fridges used to store medicines are working properly. But, team members don’t record details of the action taken when the temperature is outside the maximum range. So, they may not always be able to demonstrate that medicines have been appropriately stored. In general, team members ensure pharmacy services are provided safely and effectively. But, the pharmacy does not always provide medicine leaflets. This means that people may not have all the information they need to take their medicines safely. And, they are not removing date-expired prescriptions in time. This increases the chance of these medicines being supplied unlawfully.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment and facilities it needs to provide its services safely.
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 |