A hospital pharmacist has been suspended from the professional register for 12 months for stealing prescription-only medicines from his workplace.

James William Richardson, registration number 2069234, removed tadalafil and diazepam tablets from the pharmacy while suffering from health problems, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) heard at a fitness-to-practise hearing on August 12 and 13.

The GPhC said Mr Richardson's behaviour was "indisputably dishonest" but ruled that his health had influenced his actions and that striking him off the register would be disproportionate. Mr Richardson was not present or represented at the hearing.

Mr Richardson was working at Langley Green Hospital in West Sussex in October 2012, when he took unknown quantities of tadalafil and diazepam that had been left by a patient in the pharmacy office. An internal investigation was launched into the missing medicines and Mr Richardson admitted to taking the medicines at his disciplinary hearing.

Mr Richardson was suspended by his employers on November 14, when he was escorted by one of the pharmacy's technicians to his car. He was asked to give back any NHS property and he handed over a bag of tablets he was transporting for patients, including diazepam, propranolol and dihydrocodeine, which had been in his car overnight. This was against the hospital trust's medicines code, which specified that medicines must not be left unattended at any time during transport.

The GPhC said holding the medicines in the car overnight would not be regarded as deplorable by other members of the profession, and therefore this aspect of misconduct was not serious enough to warrant a finding that Mr Richardson's fitness-to-practise was impaired. But the committee said the theft of tadalafil and diazepam was "especially grave" considering pharmacists were the gatekeepers of medicines.

The GPhC noted that Mr Richardson was suffering from health problems at the time, which were not disclosed publicly but discussed in private. It ruled that his ill health could not be ignored, as it was likely to have been the main factor behind the theft of the medicines.

The regulator added that it was unable to assess Mr Richardson's current fitness-to-practise as he had not attended the hearing or engaged with the proceedings "for some months". It said Mr Richardson should be given the opportunity to "redeem himself" and continue his career, and ruled to suspend him for a year with a review at the end of that period.

At his review hearing, Mr Richardson would need to submit to a medical examination, demonstrate full insight into his misconduct and explain his reasons for not engaging with the fitness-to-practise process, the GPhC stressed.

Read the full determination here.