Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 20/06/2024
Pharmacy context
This is a community pharmacy next to a medical centre. It is situated in a residential area near to the centre of Lancaster. The pharmacy dispenses NHS prescriptions, private prescriptions and sells over-the-counter medicines. It also provides a range of services including the NHS Pharmacy First service. The pharmacy supplies medicines in multi-compartment compliance packs to some people to help them take their medicines at the right time. The pharmacy recently changed ownership three months ago.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy team have been trained to follow written procedures, which helps to maintain the safety and effectiveness of the pharmacy's services. The pharmacy keeps the records it needs to by law. And members of the team know how to keep private information safe. But they do not make a record when things go wrong, which would help them to review their mistakes and identify learning opportunities. And some policies are missing, which would be a useful reference for team members to ensure they act in the manner which is expected of them.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has enough team members to manage its workload. Members of the team are appropriately trained for the jobs they do. But ongoing training is not provided so further learning and development needs may not be addressed.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy premises are suitable for the services provided. A consultation room is available for people to have a private conversation with a member of the team.
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 licensed sources, stores them appropriately and carries out checks to help make sure that they are in good condition. But they do not keep records of their checks, which would help them to show they are being completed regularly. And 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 |