Pharmacy Act, 1974 (Act No. 53 of 1974)Board NoticesRules Relating to Good Pharmacy PracticeChapter 1 : Professional Standard for Premises1.10 Minimum Standard for a Drive-Through Facility in a Pharmacy |
'Drive-through' facility means any combination of structural, mechanical, electronic or other elements located within and without the dispensary department of a licensed pharmacy. This facility enables the personnel of the pharmacy to provide pharmaceutical services to a patient who drives a vehicle to the pharmacy, without the personnel of the pharmacy leaving the dispensary department or the patient leaving his/her vehicle.
The term includes, a window or other opening in the exterior wall of a prescription department of a licensed pharmacy. This can be stand alone or in conjunction with one or more mechanical, electronic or other devices.
| 1.10.1 | Features of a pharmacy with a drive-through facility |
A pharmacy with a drive-through facility must be established in [a] place that allows direct access to and from a public road.
| (a) | A pharmacy with a drive-through facility must have a roadway around the pharmacy to allow for an unimpaired flow of traffic |
| (b) | A pharmacy with a drive-through facility must be housed in a building specifically designed for the purpose. It must devote a considerable amount of its ground space for a circular road around the building, which cannot be used for anything else. |
| (c) | A pharmacy with a drive-through facility must be equipped with weatherproof porticos which will enable a pharmacist to hand the medicine directly to the patient and to do the counselling on a face-to-face basis |
| (d) | A pharmacy with a drive-through facility must be equipped with two porticos: |
| (i) | One portico will be used to receive the prescription and all of the legal and professional information required; and |
| (ii) | a second portico will be used for the supply of the medicine and the relevant counselling. |
| 1.10.2 | Minimum requirements |
The pharmacy requiring to provide services through the drive-through facility shall apply to the Council for approval, then submit plans, showing the remodelled dispensary to comply with minimum requirements for a drive-through facility. A drive-through facility must:
| (a) | Be constructed and maintained in a manner that secures the premises, i.e the pharmacy, from unlawful or unauthorised access; |
| (b) | Be readily accessible to the personnel of the pharmacy, those authorised to be in the dispensary department; |
| (c) | Provide two-way visual and auditory communication between the personnel of the pharmacy and the patient receiving pharmaceutical services; |
| (d) | Be equipped with a computer terminal that is part of the pharmacy's computerised system for recording information concerning prescriptions. The terminal must be so located within the dispensary department, to ensure that when personnel of the pharmacy provide pharmaceutical services to a patient by means of the drive-through facility, they can use the computer terminal without losing visual or auditory communication with the patient; |
| (e) | Be equipped in order to allow the pharmacist, or intern pharmacist under the supervision of a pharmacist, to provide a patient, receiving pharmaceutical services with counselling without losing visual or auditory communication with the patient. |
| (f) | If the patient is not sitting in the driver's seat but alongside or in one of the rear seats, it is essential that the pharmacist has access into the portico, via a door from the pharmacy so that the medicine can be handed directly to the patient and that the counselling is on a direct pharmacist-to-patient basis (face-to face basis). |
A pharmacy shall not provide pharmaceutical services by, means of a drive-through facility, which does not include a window, or other opening, in the exterior wall of the pharmacy.
[Rule 1.10 inserted by Board Notice 12, GG 28593, dated 10 March 2006, and numbered accordingly for ease of reference]