Pharmacy context
This pharmacy is located on a local high street in East London. The pharmacy mainly serves the local community and provides NHS services such as dispensing and the New Medicine Service. It also provides medication in multi-compartment compliance packs to people who live in their own homes and need help managing their medicines. And it provides a private face-to-face prescribing service.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy does not adequately manage the risks associated with its services, particularly its
prescribing service and the management of its controlled drugs. The pharmacy’s
record keeping is poor. It does not ensure its records are kept up to date and
accurate, including its controlled drug records. And it cannot demonstrate that
it keeps appropriate consultation notes for its prescribing service. It cannot
always produce private prescriptions it has dispensed. The pharmacy does not appropriately
monitor the safety and quality of its prescribing service, for example by
undertaking regular clinical audits. The pharmacy does not adequately protect people’s personal information, which may increase the likelihood of sharing sensitive information.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy does not
always make sure that its staff do the appropriate training for their roles. Team members complete some training as and when possible, but there is limited structure to their training. This may make it harder for them to keep their skills and knowledge up to date and relevant.
Principle 3. Premises
The premises are generally clean and maintained to a level of hygiene appropriate for the pharmacy’s services. People can have a conversation with a team member in a private area. But space in the pharmacy
is limited. And the pharmacy could do more to keep all areas tidy and free from
unnecessary clutter.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy does not always provide its services safely. It does not always label
its dispensed medicines in line with legal requirements. And as described under
Principle 1, there are risks with the pharmacy’s prescribing service which are
not being appropriately managed. The pharmacy does not always highlight prescriptions
for some controlled drugs, which could increase
the chance of the medicines being handed out when the prescription is no longer
valid. The pharmacy obtains its medicines from reputable suppliers but it does not always store them securely. People with a range of needs can access the pharmacy’s services.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy generally has the equipment 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 does 'pharmacy has not met all standards' mean?
When a pharmacy has not met all standards, they are required to complete an improvement action plan, which you can find via a link at the top left of this page. We monitor progress to check the improvements are made and inspect again after six months to make sure the pharmacy is maintaining these improvements. A new report will then be published.