Enter and View Report: John Low Ltd. Pharmacy

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. John Low Ltd. Pharmacy, being the one of the first to volunteer to host a visit. 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.

We carried out 19 individual conversations with customers, using a set of appreciative questions to give people the opportunity to describe good practice they had experienced or seen, and collected one survey which was completed prior to the visit. We also observed activity during our three hour visit, to collect our own independent impressions of the services, which were recorded during and after the visit.

Recommendations

Customers told us that staff are friendly, always helpful and polite, yet remain professional and considerate.There is a definite feeling that staff are genuinely interested in customer’s wellbeing and this should be retained
The locality of the pharmacy came across as being very important to people, and having the GP and Pharmacy service on one site was the most important element for many customers. This could be considered by the Local Pharmaceutical Committee for future planning
We were told that the service provided here was very quick and efficient. Several customers indicated that the service tries very hard to solve any problems that arise. Staff would often recommend ideas based on the customers’ requirements. Customers suggested that good teamwork was evident and staff reinforced this by talking about how cover is managed, so that services are not affected in these cases. It is evident that other services, that the Pharmacy provides now, are also important to people so these should be retained
There were some concerns raised by users and staff about the car parking system and its technology, users were concerned about making a mistake and incurring a fine, as well as not understanding the requirement for having the camera system in place. Can more be done to support people understanding the system?
There was some interest in whether the pharmacy and GP hours of opening were the same, which would be welcomed