Statutory Committee

Striking-off for breaches of law and Code of Ethics more

Restoration for man who sold CDs and POMs to newspaper investigator more

Striking-off for breaches of law and Code of Ethics

The Statutory Committee has ordered the name of a Bournemouth pharmacist to be removed from the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists after he admitted breaching Controlled Drug regulations, Medicines Act provisions and the profession’s Code of Ethics.

On 22 March and 27 April, the committee heard a complaint by the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society against Derek Michael Phillips (registration number 75766). Between 1 June 2002 and 4 February 2003, when he was suspended from employment, he had been sole pharmacist in charge of a pharmacy in London SE15 owned by a pharmacy company.

The Council alleged that misconduct such as to render Mr Phillips unfit to have his name on the Register may have been demonstrated individually or cumulatively by:

· Discrepancies in the pharmacy’s receipts and supplies of Viagra tablets

· Failure to record the receipt of CDs in a CD register

· The storage of CDs to be stored in the dispensary other than in accordance with the safe custody requirements

· Failure to keep CDs returned by patients for disposal separate from pharmacy stock

· Failure to keep date-expired packs of CDs segregated for disposal from usable stock

· Supplying sildenafil tablets to a patient at a time when no valid prescription existed

· Failure to keep records of private prescriptions dispensed in the pharmacy

· Failure to remedy a deterioration in the state of the pharmacy despite a warning from one of the Society’s inspectors

The committee heard that, during Mr Phillips’s period in charge, the pharmacy had received from wholesalers a total of 316 Viagra 50mg tablets and 444 Viagra 100mg tablets, but only 140 of the former and 329 of the latter could be accounted for by legitimate supply. Since no stock remained on the premises, there were therefore 176 Viagra 50mg and 115 Viagra 100mg that could not be accounted for.

When interviewed by the Society’s inspector, Mr Phillips had alleged that two of his assistants had stolen the Viagra to resell it. He claimed that one had been overheard boasting about selling Viagra at a hotel. He added that he first knew Viagra had gone missing in October 2002 and had drawn the matter to the attention of a director of the company.

The committee also learnt that, in breach of Regulation 19 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, Mr Phillips had failed to record in the CD register three separate supplies of 60 MST Continus 15mg tablets, for which offences he had received a formal warning from the police on 31 March 2003.

During three visits to the pharmacy early in 2003, the company’s superintendent pharmacist found packs of various CDs stored on open shelves in contravention of the Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973. Following Mr Phillips’s suspension, a pharmacy assistant found more CDs — some of which appeared to be patient-returned medicines and/or out-of-date stock — on dispensary shelves in breach of the Regulations.

Mr Phillips also failed to make entries in a private prescription register or elsewhere in respect of a number of private prescriptions dispensed by the pharmacy. In addition, he also made no record in respect of a supply of four tablets of sildenafil for which no prescription was written until more than a month later.

Finally, the committee heard that on a visit on 3 December 2002 the Society’s inspector found the pharmacy to be untidy and dirty. He discussed the deterioration in standards with Mr Phillips and warned that he would revisit the pharmacy shortly. On 29 January 2003, the company’s superintendent pharmacist visited the pharmacy and found that it was dirty, that Mr Phillips had not been monitoring the temperature of the pharmacy refrigerator and that he was keeping food in the pharmacy refrigerator. When the superintendent attempted to work in the pharmacy later that day, she felt unable to do so because of its condition and obtained the permission of the health authority to close the premises for the remainder of the day in order to bring it into a fit state.

Evidence was given to the committee by the two assistants whom Mr Phillips had accused of stealing Viagra. Both denied his allegations. The assistant who was alleged to have sold Viagra in a hotel said that he had never even been in the hotel in question.

Evidence was also given by the company director to whom Mr Phillips claimed to have reported the missing Viagra. The director denied that such a report had been made.

Giving the committee’s determination on 25 May, the chairman, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, QC, said that the committee believed the evidence of the assistant alleged to have sold Viagra in a hotel. Mr Phillips had produced no witnesses in support of his allegation of criminal misconduct by the assistants.

The second assistant had also denied vehemently that she had taken Viagra from the pharmacy. She stated that she did not have access to the cupboard in which it was kept and that Mr Phillips had the key. “She appeared to us to be a credible witness,” said the chairman, “and, again, we preferred her evidence to that of Mr Phillips, whose efforts to blame his staff were unattractive, to say the least.”

The chairman also noted that the director to whom Mr Phillips claimed to have spoken had been blunt in his response to the allegation, saying: “It just did not happen.”

“This is a serious matter,” said the chairman, “and we find it proved that there was the shortfall of Viagra as stated in the notice of inquiry. Mr Phillips was responsible for this shortfall, notwithstanding his attempts to blame others for their disappearance.”

Turning to the matter of Controlled Drugs found on open shelves in the dispensary, the chairman said: “Again, some feeble excuses were proffered ranging from a claim that the Controlled Drugs were only taken out during the working day to a claim that he had been preparing the shelf to paint it. We do not accept any of this. It is quite clear that Mr Phillips had a cavalier disregard for the regulations.”

Concluding, the chairman said that Mr Phillips had sought to advance a variety of excuses. However, he had admitted everything in the notice of inquiry apart from asserting that a chicken in the pharmacy refrigerator was his.

The committee found that, individually and cumulatively, his conduct amounted to such serious misconduct as to render him unfit to be on the Register and the committee would direct his removal.

Mr Phillips has three months in which he may appeal against the decision.

Restoration for man who sold CDs and POMs to newspaper investigator

A Hertfordshire man who was removed from the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists for unlawfully supplying Controlled Drugs and prescription-only medicines to a News of the World investigative agent has had his name restored on the instruction of the Statutory Committee.

At its meeting on 25 May, the committee considered an application for restoration from Piyush Patel (former registration number 76075). His name had been removed from the Register in December 1999 on the order of the committee following his conviction on five counts of unlawfully causing an offence to be committed by a pharmacy company of which he was superintendent pharmacist and a director (PJ, 19 February 2000, p290).

Giving the committee’s determination, the chairman, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, QC, said that Mr Patel had been convicted of serious offences but had pleaded guilty to them. Since his striking-off he appeared to have kept up to date with pharmacy in three ways. First, he had read his pharmacist wife’s copies of The Pharmaceutical Journal. Secondly, he had worked in pharmacy throughout the period, without any suggestion that he has misled any members of the public as to his status. Thirdly, he had undertaken a number of courses.

“In all the circumstances,’’ the chairman concluded, “we are confident after this period of time we can instruct the restoration of his name to the Register.”