Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 13/08/2024
Pharmacy context
The pharmacy provides a homecare medicines service which involves delivering ongoing medicine supplies direct to people's homes. All the treatments are initially prescribed by hospital prescribers. 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 purpose-built industrial unit and the premises are not open to the public. The pharmacy has an NHS contract to enable it to dispense NHS prescriptions when required. This is one of two pharmacies providing homecare medicines services owned by the same company.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 effectively identifies and manages the risks associated with its services to make sure people receive appropriate care. It uses regular audits and risk assessments to review its services and improve the way it operates. Members of the pharmacy team follow written procedures to help them work effectively and they record their mistakes so that they can learn from them. Then they make changes to help prevent the same mistakes from happening again.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has a large and experienced team with an appropriate skill mix for the services it provides. It considers staffing levels as part of future workload planning and completes recruitment and training before any additional work is undertaken. Team members work well together in a supportive environment, and they receive ongoing training and development to help improve their knowledge and skills. They can demonstrate how their feedback is used to inform the way that the pharmacy operates
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy premises are large and appropriate for the services the pharmacy provides. And the pharmacy is suitably clean, hygienic, and secure.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy is well organised, with dedicated teams working well together to support the effective delivery of its services. The pharmacy communicates well with people to help make sure they receive their medicines when they need them. It gets its medicines from licensed suppliers, and it keeps them in good condition so that they are fit for purpose.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has a range of equipment that is well maintained to help ensure the safe and effective supply of medicines to people. And its systems suitably protect people’s private information.
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 |