Inspection outcome: Standards met
Last inspection: 16/10/2019
Pharmacy context
This is a small community pharmacy in a residential area of Cramlington, Northumberland. It dispenses both NHS and private prescriptions and sells a range of over-the-counter medicines. The pharmacy team offers advice to people about minor illnesses and long-term conditions. And it provides services including home delivery, seasonal flu vaccinations and medicines use reviews (MURs). It also supplies medicines in multi-compartment compliance packs to people living in their own homes.
Inspection summary findings
Principle 1. Governance
The pharmacy identifies and manages many of the risks associated with the services it provides to people. And it has a set of up-to-date written procedures for the team members to follow to help them deliver the services safely. It keeps the records it must have by law. And it keeps people's private information secure. It acts on the feedback it receives from people who use the pharmacy to improve services. The team members discuss and record most of the mistakes they make when dispensing. And they implement changes to minimise the risk of similar mistakes happening in the future. The team members know when and how to raise a concern to safeguard the welfare of vulnerable adults and children.
Principle 2. Staff
The pharmacy team members have the appropriate qualifications and skills to provide the pharmacy's services safely and effectively. They work well together to manage their workload. The pharmacy team members complete regular training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. And they have appraisals to discuss their performance and training needs. They can make suggestions to improve the pharmacy’s services. And they feel comfortable to raise concerns when necessary.
Principle 3. Premises
The pharmacy is secure and is well maintained. The premises are suitable for the services the pharmacy provides. It has a sound-proofed room where people can have private conversations with the pharmacy’s team members.
Principle 4. Services, including medicines management
The pharmacy provides an appropriate range of services to help people meet their health needs. The services are generally well managed. It stores, sources and manages its medicines safely. And it identifies and manages most risks adequately. The pharmacy gets its medicines from reputable suppliers. It responds appropriately to drug alerts and product recalls. And it makes sure that its medicines and devices are safe to use. The pharmacy may not always give advice to people who get higher-risk medicines. And when they do they don’t always record it. So, it may not be able to refer to this information in the future if it needs to.
Principle 5. Equipment and facilities
The pharmacy’s equipment is well maintained and appropriate for the services it provides. The pharmacy uses its equipment to 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 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 |