07 March 2022
During a routine inspection
This service is rated as Good overall
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? – Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Frommars on 07 March 2022. The service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide treatment of disease and disorder or injury.
Frommars provides an online prescribing service to patients aged 18 years and over.The service has a narrow range of treatments for conditions such as erectile dysfunction, genital herpes, hair loss, acne and cold sores. Patients wishing to use the service access it via their website. Patients complete a questionnaire consultation relating to their medical history and the medicines they were requesting. They are also required to provide information to verify their identity. The Pharmacist Independent Prescriber will review the request based on the responses to the consultation. Once approved, the pharmacist will check the prescription and process the request for delivery. Deliveries are through a secure courier service.
The Superintendent Pharmacist is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Our key findings were:
- There was an effective system in place for safe prescribing.
- Risks to patients were always assessed and well managed, including those relating to ID checks for patients and suitability to access the online service.
- The service had policies and procedures to govern activity.
- The way the service was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.
- The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Continue to review how consent to share information with a patient’s GP could be obtained more readily.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care