Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 23/09/2019
Pharmacy context
This is a pharmacy located within Watford General Hospital in Watford, Hertfordshire and comes under the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The pharmacy provides dispensing services for people who have been admitted to the hospital as well as outpatients. This activity is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The pharmacy is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) as it supplies medicines to other organisations that are separate legal entities to the hospital. This includes the Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Trust who provide mental health services including clozapine to named patients, to the Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) NHS Trust who provide sexual health services and home care, to Logandene, a facility that provides inpatient mental health services, on weekends as an emergency when its usual supplier cannot, and it supplies medicines to community clinics. The pharmacy is also registered to supply medicines against private prescriptions. The inspection and resulting report only deals with activities associated with its GPhC registration.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
Overall, the pharmacy identifies and manages risks safely. Members of the pharmacy team monitor the safety of their services by recording their mistakes and learning from them. They understand how to protect the welfare of vulnerable people. And, they protect people’s private information appropriately. The pharmacy usually maintains its records in accordance with the law. But, it has not been keeping the appropriate records for supplies made against private prescriptions. This means that the team may not have all the information needed if problems or queries arise.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy has enough staff to manage its workload safely. Its team members are suitably qualified for their roles or they are undertaking appropriate as well as ongoing training. They understand their roles and responsibilities. And, the team has access to resources that help them to complete regular and ongoing training. This keeps their skills and knowledge up to date.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy's premises provide a professional environment to deliver its services. The pharmacy is secure, it is clean and has enough space to provide its services safely.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy’s services are easily accessible to people with different needs. The pharmacy provides its services in a safe manner. It sources, generally stores and manages its medicines appropriately. Team members make some checks to ensure that medicines are not supplied beyond their expiry date. But, as the pharmacy has no up to date written details about this, this makes it difficult for the team to show that they are making the relevant checks.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the appropriate equipment and facilities it needs to provide its services safely. Its equipment is usually kept clean, well maintained and used in a manner that helps protect people’s privacy.
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 |