Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 31/07/2024
Pharmacy context
The pharmacy provides a homecare medicines service which involves delivering ongoing medicine supplies direct to people’s homes. Hospital prescribers initially prescribe all of these treatments. Some aspects of the service, for example nursing care, are not regulated by GPhC. Therefore, we have only reported on the registerable services provided by the pharmacy. The pharmacy is located in a semi-industrial unit and the premises is not open to the public. The Company is registered with the MHRA and holds a Wholesale Dealers Authorisation. The pharmacy also provides a fertility treatment service. This inspection is one of a series of inspections we have carried out as part of a thematic review of homecare services in pharmacy. We will also publish a thematic report of our overall findings across all of the pharmacies we inspected. Homecare pharmacies provide specialised services that differ from the typical services provided by traditional community pharmacies. Therefore, we have made our judgements by comparing performance between the homecare pharmacies we have looked at. This means that, in some instances, systems and procedures that may have been identified as good in other settings have not been identified as such because they are standard practice within the homecare sector. However, general good practice we have identified will be highlighted in our thematic report.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy has systems in place to identify and manage the risks associated with its services. Its team members have defined roles and accountabilities. Its team members record things that go wrong, and they can give examples of action they have taken to improve the service they provide. But some learning opportunities may be missed.
Principle 2. Staff
Members of the pharmacy
team effectively manage the pharmacy’s workload. They have the training they
need for the jobs they do. And the pharmacy reviews the number of people and
skills it needs to make sure the team remains appropriate as its workload and
services change. Team members can provide feedback to help improve the
pharmacy’s services and know how to raise concerns if needed.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy’s premises are suitable for the services it provides. And the pharmacy has appropriate arrangements to prevent unauthorised access. The pharmacy’s modern websites provide appropriate information and a portal for patients and professionals to access information and communicate with the pharmacy.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy services are well managed to help make sure people receive their medicines safely and on time. The pharmacy gets its medicines and medical devices from reputable sources. It stores them safely and it knows the right actions to take if medicines or devices are not safe to use to protect people’s health and wellbeing.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment and facilities it needs for the services it provides. It maintains its 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 |