Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 06/09/2022
Pharmacy context
This community pharmacy is located in Houghton-le-Spring town centre. The pharmacy’s main activities are dispensing NHS prescriptions and selling over-the-counter medicines. The pharmacy supplies several people with their medication in multi-compartment compliance packs to help them take their medication. And it delivers medication to people’s homes.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy suitably identifies and manages the risks associated with its services. It has up-to-date written procedures that the pharmacy team generally follows. And it completes all the records it needs to by law. The pharmacy protects people’s private information correctly and the pharmacy team has training and guidance to respond to safeguarding concerns. The team members, on most occasions, respond correctly when errors occur. They discuss what happened and they take appropriate action to prevent future mistakes. But they don’t always keep full records of errors to review and improve their practice.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has a team with a range of skills and experience to support its services. The team members work well together and support each other in their day-to-day work. They make suggestions and implement changes to improve their efficiency and safety in the way they work. Team members benefit from identifying areas of their own practice they wish to develop, and the pharmacy helps them to achieve this. The pharmacy provides few opportunities for the team to complete ongoing training and to receive feedback on their performance. This means they may miss the chance to further develop their skills and knowledge.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy premises are clean, secure and suitable for the services provided. And the pharmacy has good facilities to meet the needs of people requiring privacy when using the pharmacy services.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy provides a range of services which are easily accessible for people. And it manages its services well to help people receive appropriate care. The pharmacy obtains its medicines from reputable sources. And it suitably stores and manages its medicines.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment it needs to provide its services safely. It makes sure its equipment is used appropriately to protect people’s confidential information.
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 |