Pharmacy context
The pharmacy is in a mixed commercial and residential area on Harrow Road near Kensal Green underground station in northwest London. The pharmacy dispenses private prescriptions and provides health advice. It sells over‐the‐ counter medicines from the pharmacy’s premises. The pharmacy does not dispense NHS prescriptions or provide NHS services at this site. The company that owns Smart Pharm offers access to a prescribing service to treat a range of conditions and medicines for through a website https://medsrus.co.uk. The pharmacy mainly supplies medicines to people living in the United Kingdom (UK). This was a targeted inspection in relation to the online prescribing service and its association with Smart Pharm Ltd. So some pharmacy services and some standards were not covered.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy does not adequately set out its processes in writing for running the pharmacy and in particular, its online prescribing service. It does not regularly review those written instructions to make sure they are up to date and appropriately identify and manage the risks involved in providing its services. The pharmacy does not adequately assess the risks involved in selling medicines online and it does not routinely document risk assessments (RAs). The pharmacy does not ask for people to share information so it is unable to independently verify their medical information. And people's doctors may be unaware of treatments they obtain elsewhere. This means there is a risk the pharmacy could supply medicines innappropriately based on false information. The pharmacy's consultation records are inadequate as they do not always include information on counseling 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.
Principle 2. Staff
The superintendent pharmacist (SI) manages the prescribing service workload. The company employs support staff to dispense and dispatch prescriptions in the pharmacy without having enrolled them on accredited training in line with their roles. The SI completes training to keep up to date and support how the team provide services.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy is light, bright and of sufficient size for the current workload. Following the inspection visit, some of the information on the website which was not accurate and may have been misleading is now updated. The pharmacy's website includes some unclear information about its prescribers, so people won't know who is responsible for the online services. Missing information means that the website is not fully complant with GPhC guidance for registered pharmacies providing services at a distance including on the internet.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy does not keep adequate records of the decisions it makes to refuse treatment or refer people elsewhere. And it doesn't adequately document any verification of people's information as it should, in line with its prescribing policy. The pharmacy makes its services accessible to people, in person, by telephone and online. 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 where they can be collected. The website and the online services are available twenty-four hours a day. Medicines are supplied to people in the UK who use the online prescribing service, via a courier with tracking facilities. And in packaging which helps keep medicines at the correct temperature. The pharmacy makes sure people have the information to use their medicines safely.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the equipment it needs to provide services. And the team uses the equipment in a way which protects 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 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.