Enter and View Report: ‘Intrahealth’ Chilton Pharmacy

Report - 15 November 2017

Our report looks at the findings from when our authorised representatives visited ‘Intrahealth’ Pharmacy in Chilton as part of the positive Pilot ‘Enter and View’.

Healthwatch County Durham have carried out Enter and View visits in GP practices that have scored highly in patient satisfaction surveys and Care Quality Commission inspections, with the aim to learn from and share good practice identified during conversations with patients and from observations on the day. The same principle is being used here within Pharmacy services. ‘Intrahealth’ Chilton Pharmacy, being one of the pharmacies that volunteered to take part in a positive Pilot ‘Enter and View’. It forms part of a wider piece of work looking at people’s understanding of and use of pharmacy services on behalf of the Local Pharmaceutical Committee and Public Health.

Recommendations

Retaining the staffing levels and quality was a priority for customers as they felt the present team are very effective. They told us that staff are friendly and offer a prompt service. The staff work as a team and there are adequate numbers to see the amount of customers that use the service. This is important as many people suggested time was tight for them
The locality of the pharmacy is very important to people, for some because of illness they could not walk far so appreciated having a nearby service. Others said that they were happy to travel as such a good service was offered. One journey to get all items on prescription was better than many to a nearer service. Although the pharmacy itself is fully accessible there is an issue with access from the car park through the medical centre. The installation of a sign at the medical centre doors, as highlighted with them, would be very useful for disabled users
We were told that the service provided here was honest and gave good advice around interaction of medication and suggested that the pharmacy had much more time available to do this, more so than the GP. Continued good communication with customers and having time for customers is very important to people using the service. People said that the pharmacy and its service should be kept just as it is
Stock availability seems to work well here and leads to good customer satisfaction so should be retained as a priority