Pharmacy context
This pharmacy is in a business park in northwest London and closed to the general public, so it does not see people face-to-face. It dispenses NHS and private prescriptions. Medicines are delivered to people’s homes or to a nearby branch of the pharmacy, from where people can collect them. It supplies medicines in multi‐compartment compliance packs for people who have difficulty taking their medicines at the right time. It also dispenses some private prescriptions issued from its other pharmacy for a range of conditions and there are medicines for sale through a website https://medsrus.co.uk. The pharmacy mainly supplies medicines to people living in the United Kingsom (UK). This was a routine inspection focussing mainly on the pharmacy's association with the owner's online prescribing service, so some pharmacy services and some standards were not covered.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy has not written down the processes its team should follow when running the pharmacy and providing its online prescribing service. It has not reviewed or updated its written instructions so they are out of date and do not help its team members identify and manage the risks involved in completing their tasks. The pharmacy does not adequately assess the risks involved in providing its services and it does not routinely document risk assesments (RAs). The pharmacy's questionnaires are tailored for specific medical conditions but people do not have to consent to sharing information so the pharmacy does not always verify the medical information it is given before supplying medicines. And people's doctors may be unaware of treatments they obtain elsewhere. The pharmacy generally keeps the records it is required to keep. Consultation records do not always include information on counselling provided or details of refusals to supply medicines. The pharmacy does not have a specific documented safeguarding policy to guide the team and protect the welfare of vulnerable people associated with the online prescribing service. A safeguarding SOP does not set out what to do if the pharmacy team have a concern about the safety of a child or vulnerable person.
Principle 2. Staff
The responsible pharmacist (RP) satisfactorily manages the daily workload in the pharmacy. The RP and SI complete training to keep-up-to date and support how they provide their services.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy is light, bright and of sufficient size for the current workload. It protects its medicines stock and people's private information when it is closed outside its hours of business.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy is closed to people but they contact it via the phone or email. It gets its medicines from reputable sources and it stores them appropriately and securely. The pharmacy delivers medicines to people in their homes or to the other pharmacy’s premises for people to collect. It makes sure people can access the website twenty-four hours per day. It supplies medicines to people in the UK who use the online prescribing service via a courier with tracking facilities. And in packaging which helps to keep it medicines at the correct remperature. The pharmacy makes sure people have the information to use their medicines safely, But it doesn't have an adequate system to notify the MHRA about concerns about medicines and for locums to refer to alerts about medicines.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment it needs to provide its services. And it protects people’s private information.
Pharmacy details
Suite 18, Space House
Abbey Road
Park Royal
LONDON
NW107SU
England
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.