Inspection outcome: Standards not all met
Last inspection: 14/11/2024
Pharmacy context
This community pharmacy is located next to a GP practice in the Saltley area of Birmingham. People who use the pharmacy are from the local community and a home delivery service is available. The pharmacy dispenses NHS prescriptions, and it provides some other NHS funded services. The pharmacy team dispenses medicines into multi‐compartment compliance packs for people to help make sure they remember to take them. The pharmacy dispenses private prescriptions for a third-party online prescribing service which provides weight loss treatments. The prescribing service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This inspection focused on this aspect of the pharmacy’s services. Not all standards were inspected on this occasion.
Enforcement action has been taken against this pharmacy, which remains in force at the time of this inspection, and there are restrictions on the provision of some services. The enforcement action taken allows the pharmacy to continue providing other services, which are not affected by the restrictions imposed.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy does not manage and identify the risks associated with the third-party online prescribing service that it works in partnership with. It cannot demonstrate it has adequate safeguards and the pharmacy has not completed adequate risk assessments before working with the prescribing service to ensure that its working practices are safe and legal. This means that people may be able to access medicines which may not be suitable and could cause them harm. The pharmacy relies on the prescribing service to undertake parts of the service, including record keeping. This means there was a risk that private prescription information could be changed, deleted or the pharmacy’s access to records be removed or restricted.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy cannot demonstrate that team members involved with the supply of medicines for the third-party prescribing service are suitably trained and competent to carry out the tasks that they are undertaking.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy is generally clean and tidy and provides a suitable environment for the delivery of healthcare services. The website for the online prescribing service that the pharmacy is partnered with does not contain sufficient information about the prescribers so people can make an informed decision when accessing the service.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
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.