Pharmacy context
The pharmacy is in a busy health centre in Hartlepool town centre. It dispenses NHS prescriptions and provides medicines to some people in multi-compartment compliance packs. Pharmacy team members sell a range of over-the-counter medicines and provide services such as the NHS Pharmacy First service. And they deliver medicines to people’s homes.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy does not always adequately manage
risks with its services. And team members do not record and effectively learn
from the errors they make. They understand their role to help protect vulnerable people. And they suitably protect people’s confidential information. The pharmacy keeps most of the records required by law. But some of these records are incomplete and inaccurate.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy does not always have enough team members to manage the pharmacy’s workload. And team members do not complete all necessary tasks properly. This increases the risks of them making mistakes. Pharmacy team members generally complete ongoing training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. But this is outside of working hours. Team members know how to raise concerns about the pharmacy. But they are not always confident they are fully resolved.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy is generally suitable for the services provided. But the area where team members dispense prescriptions is untidy and cluttered. There is a significant risk of the team tripping and falling over items stored on the floor. And the pharmacy has cluttered and untidy shelves, introducing increased risk of team members making mistakes whilst dispensing. The pharmacy is clean and secure. And it has a room where people can speak to pharmacy team members privately.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy sources its medicines from reputable suppliers. But it does not store and manage all its medicines appropriately. The pharmacy does not have a robust process for checking the expiry date on medicines. And this increases the risk
of people receiving medicines that are out of date. Overall, the pharmacy suitably manages its dispensing services. And team members provide people with some advice and information about taking higher-risk medicines.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy has the necessary equipment available for the services it provides. It manages and uses its equipment in ways that protect people’s confidentiality.
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.