Tesco Instore Pharmacy (1036178)

Inspection summary findings

Principle 1. Governance

Members of the pharmacy team are clear about their roles and responsibilities. They work to professional standards, identifying and managing risks effectively. The pharmacy logs any mistakes it makes during the dispensing process. It reviews those logs on a regular basis, learns from them and takes action to avoid problems being repeated. The pharmacy generally maintains the records that it must keep by law. But some details about private prescriptions and emergency supplies were missing from its records. So it may not always be able to show exactly what has happened if any problems arise. It manages and protects confidential information well and it tells people how their private information will be used.  The team members also understand how they can help to protect the welfare of vulnerable people. The pharmacy has adequate insurance in place to help protect people if things do go wrong.

Principle 2. Staff

The pharmacy has enough staff to manage its workload safely. Pharmacy team members are well trained, and have a good understanding about their roles and responsibilities. They can make suggestions to improve safety and workflows where appropriate. And they respond well when things go wrong to make their services safer.

Principle 3. Premises

The premises are clean and the pharmacy provides a safe, secure and professional environment for people to receive healthcare services.

Principle 4. Services, including medicines management

Pharmacy services are delivered in a safe and effective manner, and people with a range of needs can access them. The pharmacy sources, stores and manages medicines safely, and so makes sure that all the medicines it supplies are fit for purpose. It takes steps to identify people supplied with some high-risk medicines such as sodium valproate, so that they can be given extra information they need to take their medicines safely. But the team may not be identifying patients on other high-risk medicines, such as warfarin. This may mean opportunities to provide them with appropriate counselling and advice are missed. The pharmacy responds appropriately to drug alerts and product recalls, to make sure people only get medicines or devices which are safe. It keeps a record of the checks it makes to keep people safe.

Principle 5. Equipment and facilities

The pharmacy has the right equipment for the range of services it provides. But it doesn’t have any records to show when it carries out calibration checks. This could make it harder to demonstrate that equipment was working correctly in the event of a future query. The pharmacy keeps people’s private information safe.