Date of Decision: November 2, 2023
Allegations: While working as the owner and Responsible Pharmacist at F.F. & R. Stevenson Pharmacy in Hull, the pharmacist:
Failed to adequately manage the risks associated with selling codeine linctus between July 2017 and September 2020.
Supplied large volumes of codeine linctus without proper safeguards, including:
Not keeping records of invoices or monitoring purchases.
Failing to track or restrict sales to repeat customers.
Not offering alternative treatments or referring customers to doctors.
Supplied excessive quantities of codeine linctus to two individuals (Persons A and B), despite knowing or suspecting they were misusing or addicted to it.
Allowed these customers to purchase up to two 200ml bottles every few days or weekly over several years.
Did not attend the GPhC hearing and submitted only a short written response admitting to selling codeine linctus to an inspector.
Outcome: Imposed conditions on practice for 12 months
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Date of Decision: October 18, 2023
Allegations: While working as owner and superintendent pharmacist of Elders Chemist, Dyfed, the pharmacist:
Failed to ensure the pharmacy had appropriate indemnity insurance from April 2010 to November 2020.
Falsely declared on multiple occasions (2009–2020) that he had professional indemnity insurance when renewing his GPhC registration.
Provided misleading information to a GPhC inspector in December 2020, falsely stating that his indemnity insurance had only lapsed in September 2020.
Sent an email to the GPhC in January 2021 stating that his insurance had been overlooked only since the start of the pandemic, despite knowing it had lapsed years earlier.
Was dishonest and lacked integrity by attempting to conceal the full extent of the period without insurance.
Outcome: Suspended for three months (without review)
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Date of Decision: September 13, 2023
Allegations: While working as a locum pharmacist and Responsible Pharmacist at Crompton Pharmacy, Chelmsford, the pharmacist:
Dispensed 56 tablets of 120mg Oxycodone Hydrochloride instead of the prescribed 56 tablets of 20mg Oxycodone Hydrochloride.
Supplied the incorrect medication to Patient A, who later suffered an accidental overdose and died.
Failed to carry out proper checks despite being questioned by a colleague about the medication.
Did not recognise the need for a second checker when dispensing a controlled drug.
Attributed the error to fatigue, stress, and working excessive hours in an understaffed pharmacy.
Outcome: Issued a formal warning
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Date of Decision: July 26, 2023
Allegations: While working as a locum pharmacist at Hollowood Chemists Ltd, Blackrod, Bolton, the pharmacist:
Showed a work colleague an indecent image of a penis on his mobile phone.
Made multiple inappropriate sexual comments towards a female colleague, including:
“You still have a really nice figure.”
“If you had a partner, he’d be a lucky man looking at you.”
“You look so fit walking around the dispensary.”
Violated professional boundaries, making his colleague feel uncomfortable and embarrassed.
Acted with sexual motivation in his comments and actions.
Outcome: Suspended for three months
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Date of Decision: July 6, 2023
Allegations: While working as Superintendent Pharmacist at Avantgarde Pharma Ltd (Al-Shafa Pharmacy, Walsall), the pharmacist:
Supplied controlled drugs to Patient A between January 2018 and February 2019 using prescriptions that were not legally valid.
Dispensed controlled drugs based on prescriptions that were handwrittenly altered, missing dosage information, or expired.
Failed to verify the legitimacy of prescriptions despite multiple ‘red flags’ suggesting fraud.
Allowed Patient A, who was potentially addicted to opioids, to receive excessive quantities of Fentanyl and Tramadol without proper checks.
Became overly trusting of Patient A and failed to act in the patient’s best interest by ensuring appropriate prescribing.
Outcome: Suspension (6 months) with no review
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Date of Decision: April 27, 2023
Allegations: While working as Duty Pharmacy Manager at Tesco Walkden Extra, Manchester, the pharmacist:
Downloaded confidential patient data from the pharmacy’s internal system (RxWeb) on 9 February 2019.
Emailed an Excel spreadsheet containing 83,000 patient records to his personal email account.
The data included:
Names
Addresses
NHS numbers
Dates of birth
Contact details
GP details
Initially denied involvement when confronted by the Superintendent Pharmacist on 15 February 2019.
Later admitted sending the email, claiming he planned to use the data to "grow the business" at an online pharmacy he was also involved with (Pharmadirect, FTP Healthcare Ltd).
Admitted that his actions were dishonest and intended for personal or financial gain.
Outcome: Suspended for three months
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Date of Decision: August 19, 2021
Allegations: The pharmacy technician:
Stole money from the till at Haggerston Pharmacy on three separate occasions:
27 November 2019
28 November 2019
29 November 2019
Used the ‘no sale’ button to open the till without recording transactions properly.
Pocketed cash from card and cash transactions, ensuring the till reconciled with receipts.
Was caught on CCTV taking money from the till and attempting to disguise the theft.
Initially downplayed the extent of his actions but later admitted stealing on multiple occasions.
Outcome: Suspended for nine months
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Date of Decision: October 21, 2020
Allegations: While working as Superintendent Pharmacist at Bosworth Pharmacy, the pharmacist:
Pursued and/or entered into an inappropriate relationship with Patient A between September 2018 and January 2019.
Pursued and/or entered into a romantic relationship with Patient B during the same period.
Exchanged WhatsApp messages with Patient A that contained sexual overtones, including messages about massages and kisses.
Allowed Patient A to stay at her home after Patient A self-harmed and was discharged from hospital.
Failed to seek professional advice or take steps to maintain proper boundaries.
Outcome: A formal warning was issued
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Date of Decision: September 9, 2021
Allegations: The pharmacist was convicted at Bradford Magistrates’ Court on 3 March 2021 of:
Theft by employee—stealing £8,218.45 in cash from his employer between 30 April 2016 and 12 October 2019.
Breach of trust as a superintendent pharmacist, abusing his senior role to misappropriate funds.
He initially made partial admissions during a police interview, later pleading guilty in court.
On 31 March 2021, he was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court to:
Eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.
A victim surcharge of £100.
Full repayment of the stolen £8,218.45.
He voluntarily stopped working as a pharmacist in October 2019 and informed the GPhC in February 2020 that he had no intention of returning to practice.
Outcome: Removal from the GPhC register
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Date of Decision: August 9, 2021
Allegations: While working at Lloyds Pharmacy, the pharmacist:
Took perfume without paying for it on multiple occasions (26 June 2019 and 3 July 2019).
Attempted to take additional perfume on 17 July 2019.
Attempted to take three packets of Pantoprazole 40mg (a prescription-only medicine) without a prescription, recording, or payment on 17 July 2019.
When confronted, the pharmacist gave inconsistent explanations and initially denied wrongdoing.
The theft was discovered following routine security checks and a review of CCTV footage.
The pharmacist was dismissed from Lloyds Pharmacy following an internal investigation.
Outcome: Suspended for 8 months
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