One of the major changes with the new inspection process is the involvement of the pharmacy team. Previously, inspection involved the pharmacist and possibly a key technician or dispenser. The new inspection process could see the whole team's work being assessed.

For many team members this will seem like a daunting prospect and, therefore, the pharmacist has an important role in preparing their team for the inspection. The agenda for the briefing should include an explanation of what inspection is and what it involves, what the role of the pharmacist is in this process and what will be expected of them. It would also be useful to describe some scenarios and listen to their answers to ensure they have a good understanding of processes and SOPs.

The GPhC inspector will not be looking for rehearsed answers but for the team to describe a process in their own words, and this will be stronger evidence that the process is understood and followed in practice. The briefing should be for all staff, because the inspector could ask any member of the pharmacy team about their understanding of and role in the processes in the pharmacy.

You may also want to have a separate meeting with key members of your team to discuss the them with the process. In this way you can effectively delegate actions to different members of the team.

Support for inspection

The GPhC has published a range of documents that underpin the new inspection process: the standards. It has also provided a proposed evidence bank. This document describes the principles and suggests evidence that could be used to support them. This is then mapped against the standards.

Many pharmacy organisations provide support for their members to prepare for inspection. This can include briefings, frameworks for collating evidence and signposting to other resources to help generate suitable evidence. A number of these organisations also provide a pre-inspection inspection to bring an objective view to the pharmacy that will support preparation.

The next step is to put these ideas into action. Finish by recording your learning outcomes.