Tesco Instore Pharmacy (1039626)

Inspection summary findings

Principle 1. Governance

The pharmacy has procedures to in place to identify and manage risks. It keeps them up to date. And it mostly maintains the pharmacy records it must by law. It regularly checks that the records it keeps for some medicines match what is in stock. But when the pharmacy team members find discrepancies, they don't always investigate properly. The pharmacy has systems in place to manage complaints and people can give feedback about its services. The pharmacy team members read and follow the procedures. They complete regular training. So, they know how to keep people’s information secure. They understand how important their role is in keeping people’s information safe. And, they know what to do if there is a concern about a vulnerable child or adult. They complete a regular audit of key governance and safety tasks. But, they don’t always act when they identify areas for improvement. The team members regularly discuss mistakes that happen. They sometimes use this information to learn and make changes to help prevent similar mistakes happening again. But they don’t always record their mistakes or analyse why they happen. So, they may miss opportunities to improve.

Principle 2. Staff

The pharmacy team members have the right qualifications and skills for their roles and the services they provide. They reflect on their own performance. And discuss any training needs with the pharmacist. But, they don’t complete regular planned training about pharmacy specific topics. So, it may be difficult to make sure their knowledge and skills are up to date. The pharmacy team members can discuss issues and act on ideas to support the delivery of services. But they don’t always establish and discuss specific causes of mistakes. So, they may miss chances to learn from errors and make changes to make things safer.

Principle 3. Premises

The pharmacy is clean and properly maintained. It provides a suitable space for the health services provided. And the pharmacy has a room where people can speak to pharmacy team members privately. But, it has limited space available to carry out prescription preparation. So, this might increase the risk of mistakes happening.

Principle 4. Services, including medicines management

The pharmacy is accessible to people. And it generally provides its services safely and effectively. It stores, sources and manages medicines safely. But, the pharmacy team don’t mark packs containing short-dated medicines. So, they may provide short-dated medicines to people. The pharmacy team members dispense medicines into devices to help people remember to take them correctly. They provide information with these devices to help people know when to take their medicines. And to identify what they look like. But, they don’t regularly provide people with medicines information leaflets. So, people may not have correct information they need to help them take their medicines safely. The team takes steps to identify people taking high-risk medicines. And it provides them with some advice.

Principle 5. Equipment and facilities

The pharmacy has the necessary equipment available, which it properly maintains. And it manages and uses the equipment in ways that protect confidentiality.