Are you planning on making physical changes to your pharmacy to accommodate the new non-sterile compounding standards? Perhaps you’re looking to repurpose a counselling area into a compounding room? These types of changes to your pharmacy are considered renovations, which require an application to ACP before the renovations take place.
ACP has encountered several pharmacies that have made physical changes without applying for a renovation. Licensees are required to provide more than a partial floor plan of the proposed change to ACP prior to renovating. It is required that licensees submit a completed renovation application form, including a complete floor plan of the entire pharmacy, as well as provide the renovation application fee.
Licensees applying for a renovation to their pharmacy must submit a floor plan that complies with the floor plan requirements guide found on the ACP website. If you have already completed renovations to your pharmacy without previously applying to the college, you still must complete ACP’s renovation application process. Remember, when an ACP pharmacy practice consultant visits your pharmacy, your pharmacy must exactly match the floor plan you provided to ACP.
Also, if you intend to add pharmacy services (e.g., provision of compounding and repackaging or mail order pharmacy services) and plan to make physical changes to your pharmacy to accommodate these new services, you must apply for an additional licence category by completing the add-on form (found on the forms page of the ACP website) AND complete the pharmacy renovation application process.
Please keep the following key points in mind when planning changes to your pharmacy:
- All pharmacy services, including storing, compounding, dispensing, and selling of drugs, must only occur within the dispensary of a licensed pharmacy.
- Adding a room to your pharmacy is a renovation. If you are considering a room that is not directly connected to your dispensary to accommodate the new non-sterile compounding standards, you need to apply for a secondary dispensary through the renovation application process. Only a pharmacy that does not have a compounding and repackaging licence AND existed at its current location before March 3, 2018, is eligible to apply for a secondary dispensary.
- Repurposing a room (e.g., intending to compound in a room that is currently being used for patient consultations) is a renovation and requires a renovation application because the size of the dispensary and layout of the pharmacy are changing.
- Changing the infrastructure (e.g., installing a fume hood) in your dispensary is considered a renovation as the physical facilities have changed.
- If you are adding or changing a room to accommodate the provision of compounding and repackaging services (compounding or repackaging for another pharmacy that will dispense or sell the drugs) you will need to apply for a compounding and repackaging licence. Keep in mind there are minimum size and equipment requirements for a compounding and repackaging licenced pharmacy.
For more information on applying for a renovation, visit the Renovation page on the ACP website.
