Freefield PharmacyGPhC

Pharmacy context

The pharmacy is in Lerwick, the main town and port of the Shetland Islands. The pharmacy dispenses NHS prescriptions and provides extra services. It collects prescriptions from surgeries in Lerwick and Scalloway when needed. And provides a delivery service to support housebound and vulnerable people. ​A consultation room is available, and people can be seen in private.

Standards by principle

• Principle 1 – Governance

  Standards met

  The pharmacy team members complete training and work to professional standards. They provide safe services and look after people. And senior pharmacy members carry out checks to make sure the pharmacy is running safely. The pharmacy keeps some records of mistakes when they happen. But, this could be improved upon to make sure that services develop and improve. The pharmacy keeps the records it needs to by law. It understands its role in protecting vulnerable people. And it provides regular training to keep confidential information safe. People using the pharmacy can raise concerns. And staff know to follow the company's complaints handling procedure. This means that staff listen to people and put things right when they can.

• Principle 2 – Staff

  Standards met

  The pharmacy monitors its staffing levels. And ensures it has the right number of pharmacy team members throughout the week. The pharmacy team members support each other in their day-to-day work. They can speak up when there are problems and suggest service improvements when needed. The pharmacist updates team members when there are service changes. But there is limited access to ongoing training. This may prevent pharmacy team members from improving in their roles. And they may not always be up to date with developments.​

• Principle 3 – Premises

  Standards met

  The premises are clean. And provide a safe, secure and professional environment for patients to receive healthcare.

• Principle 4 – Services

  Standards met

  The pharmacy provides a range of services to the local area. It displays its opening times in the window. But does not always provide easy access to patient information leaflets. This may mean that people do not know what services and extra support is available to them. The pharmacy carries out dispensing in a safe and effective way. And makes arrangements to ensure that people do not run out of their medicines. ​ The pharmacy sources, stores and manages its medicines and updates the pharmacy team about high-risk medicines. This means that team members know when to provide people with extra information. ​

• Principle 5 – Equipment

  Standards met

  The pharmacy has the equipment it needs to provide safe services. A range of up to date reference sources are available to the pharmacy team. And, measuring equipment of a suitable standard is available.

Inspection history summary