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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Date of Decision: October 13, 2021
Allegations: The pharmacist was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on 9 February 2021 of:
Supplying Diazepam (Class C) between 1 February 2016 and 9 August 2017
Supplying Nitrazepam (Class C) between 1 February 2016 and 9 August 2017
Supplying Tramadol (Class C) between 1 February 2016 and 9 August 2017
Supplying Zolpidem (Class C) between 1 February 2016 and 9 August 2017
Supplying Zopiclone (Class C) between 1 February 2016 and 9 August 2017
The pharmacist was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment on 2 March 2021 for his role in diverting over 29,000 packs of controlled drugs from the legal supply chain.
The estimated black-market value of these drugs was over £1 million.
He was accused of impersonating another pharmacist (Pharmacist A) in correspondence with the regulator to cover up the illegal supply.
When first confronted, he claimed he was under duress from a criminal gang but later admitted to financially benefiting from the illegal supply chain, receiving an estimated £60,000 in illicit payments.
The drugs were supplied without prescriptions, raising serious risks of misuse and addiction.
Outcome: Removal from the GPhC register
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Date of Decision: June 10, 2021
Allegations: The pharmacist falsely declared on an online locum booking system (Venloc) on 21 August 2018 that she was accredited to conduct:
Medicines Use Reviews (MURs)
New Medicine Services (NMS)
In October 2018, while working for Lloyds Pharmacy, she:
Informed a colleague she could not perform MURs due to lack of accreditation.
Was confronted by the area manager, during which she falsely claimed to have completed accreditation on 11 October 2018.
Emailed Venloc later that day, stating she had mistakenly selected “yes” regarding accreditation, but this was also found to be untrue.
The pharmacist later admitted dishonesty, explaining she panicked and lied when confronted.
Outcome: A formal warning was issued
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Date of Decision: January 25, 2021
Allegations: The pharmacist was removed from the GPhC register on 27 May 2014 following findings of:
Multiple serious dispensing errors between April 2012 and November 2012, including:
Supplying Clonazepam instead of Dexamethasone.
Dispensing incorrect inhalers to two different patients.
Incorrectly labelling and relabelling prescriptions, leading to confusion.
Three counts of fraud by abuse of position, including:
Falsely stamping and submitting NHS prescriptions for payment, fraudulently claiming they had been dispensed.
Altering prescriptions to increase drug quantities for higher reimbursement.
Changing patients’ exemption statuses to claim refunds fraudulently.
The fraud totalled £32,000, which he repaid.
He was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, later reduced to a suspended sentence.
Outcome: Application for restoration was rejected
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