Empowering you to meet regulatory and best practice requirements

We are at an exciting point within our digital transformation journey as we are on the cusp of launching ‘Scan to Accuracy Check’ (StAC) in all stores. Like Assisted Due Date Dispensing (ADDD), this uses barcode scanning technology to drive operational and safety benefits. As we initiate any new technology, it is important to recognise that this introduces new ways of working. 

For example, pharmacy team members have become accustomed to using a ‘batch labelling’ process during assembly and, following accuracy check, a ‘batch bagging’ process. This has been driven by the Columbus system and our SOPs, which broadly required us to gather all the stock, scan all the packs to generate labels, apply all the labels to the correct packs and complete an accuracy check of everything that has been labelled before finally bagging. With new systems such as ADDD or StAC, we require a new way of working to assure safe working practices which use well-researched and trusted assembly principles underpinning ‘single item flow’. This philosophy is supported by James Reason’s ‘Swiss cheese’ model; working in this way, we can detect errors at the time they arise in the process and prevent them from passing further along the process and become at risk of being missed and supplied to a patient in error. 

To support this new way of working, you should maintain a clear workspace with only a single pack being processed at any one time – you should: 

• Only remove one pack from the container/tote at any time
• Maintain a clear workstation (any items which are not required, will not scan or are not validated should be placed immediately in the exceptions container/returned to stock/remain in a nestable container until required)
• Immediately apply the printed label to the scanned pack before scanning the next item (the system will deliberately pause for five seconds after a pack is scanned to prevent batch scanning) 
• When in the bagging phase, select a suitably sized bag before scanning the first item and place each item into the bag following each successful scan.

This ‘single item flow’ helps to reduce the risk of applying a printed label to the wrong pack or bagging an incorrect item and ensures that any errors identified by the system are rectified at the time. If an unexpected event is detected, an alert message will appear in Columbus to warn you – please take care to READ, UNDERSTAND and ACTION any pop-up messages.

Please ensure that all pharmacy team members review the information on StAC, including the operational guidance as well as a video showing top tips and best practice, which is available on BootsLive.

The Boots Palliative Care Service has been running, in partnership with Macmillan, since October 2021. As part of the service, Boots pharmacies are required to maintain stocks of medicines commonly used in palliative care. Following a review of the formulary, haloperidol tablets have been removed. Stores will no longer need to maintain stock of haloperidol tablets and they will not be automatically replenished for the purpose of this service. A printed copy of the updated formulary accompanies this edition of The Professional Standard.

All community pharmacy stores must now record all near miss incidents using the digital Near Miss Log on the Pharmacy Incidents & Events Reporting System (PIERS). Access to the log is available via a shortcut on the ‘Start’ menu of any computer terminal and on the store’s iPad. Pharmacy team members and leaders can view the data and reports by logging into PIERS using the store’s generic PIERS account. Information on recording near miss incidents electronically and how to access the store’s generic account is available on BootsLive.