Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 15/04/2019
Pharmacy context
An independent pharmacy located on a busy high street in South Harrow, London, serving a diverse and multi-ethnic community. It is a family run business and has been owned by the regular pharmacist for 30 years. The pharmacy dispenses prescriptions and provided Medicines Use Reviews (MURs), New Medicines Service (NMS), monitored dosage system (MDS) trays for patients in their own homes and for a five-bed care home.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
Overall, the pharmacy manages most risks well. The pharmacy records the mistakes it makes during the dispensing process. The pharmacy keeps the records it needs to by law, but the pharmacy does not always check some of its stock balances regularly. This means that mistakes may not be easily detected and corrected. The pharmacy protects people’s personal information and team members understand how to protect vulnerable people.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy team are appropriately trained for their roles. But, team members don’t have formal training plans to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. This could affect how well they care for people and the advice they give. Team members work in a supportive environment where they feel able to raise concerns if needed. They feel able to use their own professional judgement.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy is clean, tidy and well maintained. The pharmacy has a private consultation room which is used regularly. The pharmacy is secure when it is closed.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy’s services are accessible to people with different needs. The team source, store and generally manage medicines appropriately. Staff try to make sure pharmacy services are provided safely, but they do not always identify, or record relevant safety checks when people receive higher risk medicines. This makes it difficult for them to show that the appropriate advice is always provided when these medicines are supplied.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has appropriate equipment and facilities to provide services safely. These are clean and fit for purpose.
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 |