Superintendent pharmacist Mohammed Asif, registration number 2028721, has been struck off the professional register for completing declarations on the back of prescription forms without knowing if the patients were entitled to claim an exemption.

Mr Asif, who has been a pharmacist for 30 years, operated an "inappropriate and misleading" system by signing exemption forms on behalf of patients who had not submitted a valid exemption certificate or were not exempt from paying for their prescription, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) heard at a fitness-to-practise hearing on July 4.

The GPhC acknowledged that Mr Asif wanted to "maintain good customer relations" with his patients, but ruled that his "dishonest system" was "incompatible with continued registration as a pharmacist".

Mohammed Asif, registration number 2028721, told the GPhC that the practice was common throughout east Birmingham	More fitness-to-practise cases Superintendent pharmacist struck off for repeated      domestic violence Boots pharmacist suspended for falsifying 628 MURs GPhC warns locum over 12 driving offences MORE NEWS
	When Mr Asif set up his own pharmacy in Birmingham in 2007, he established a system that involved either himself or his staff under his direction filling in the declaration of exemption by putting a "squiggle" in the signature box, without indicating whether it belonged to the patient or the patient's representative, the committee heard.

On some occasions they ticked the box stating that the patient had a valid medical exemption certificate, but did not indicate whether they had seen it.

Patients did not have the opportunity to sign the declaration of exemption as the medicines were delivered to their homes without a prescription, the committee heard. The prescriptions and signed declarations were sent to the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA) for payment.

The practice was uncovered when an NHS counter fraud specialist sent out penalty notices to patients whose declarations for exemption "appeared to be invalid" between July and September 2009.

Mr Asif made a payment of £24,000 to settle all potential claims against patients that had resulted from his system, not just for the period between July and September 2009, the committee heard.

Mr Asif said he had not tried to deceive anyone or gain advantage for himself and had adopted a system used in his previous pharmacy and throughout east Birmingham, the committee heard. He argued that his patients expected the pharmacist to sign their prescriptions for them and would be offended by a request to sign a declaration of exemption.

Mr Asif told the committee that he had a "moral and legal obligation" to supply each patient with their prescribed medicine and he could not withhold it if the patient could not sign the declaration.

But the committee concluded that, although Mr Asif had adopted the system to maintain good customer relations with his patients, he knew the system was wrong and wanted to avoid having to pay the £7.20 charge that would have been deducted from the payments he received if he submitted unsigned declarations of exemption to the PPA.

The exemption forms were "relatively easy to understand and complete" and it was "plainly dishonest" to make it appear that the form had been signed by a patient, the committee said.

The committee conceded that Mr Asif's clinical skills were not in question and he was not a risk to patients. Testimonials to the committee showed his "positive good character" and Mr Asif said he had changed his system since being investigated by the NHS.

However, the committee concluded that a "dishonest system of this kind" was "wholly unacceptable" and that "public confidence in the profession demands no lesser sanction than removal from the register".

Read the full fitness-to-practise case here.

How do you ensure patients complete the declarations on their prescriptions in your pharmacy? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook