A former Boots pharmacy manager has received an official warning from the pharmacy regulator for giving a staff discount card to her sister.  

Katarzyna Tomaszewska, registration number 2063022, manually added £379-worth of points to her own Boots Advantage Card and gave her sister a second discount card to which she was not entitled, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) heard at a fitness-to-practise hearing on October 4. She was consequently dismissed from Boots for gross misconduct.  

The GPhC accepted that Ms Tomaszewska had not acted dishonestly in adding the points to her card, and was described as trustworthy and honest by 13 character witnesses. But it said she had abused the Boots discount system by giving a card to a relative she did not live with. 

The GPhC found that Katarzyna Tomaszewska, registration number 2063022, was guilty of serious misconduct and warned her against repeating the behaviour	More on fitness to practise Superintendent pharmacist struck off for false prescription claims CPD no-show sees pharmacist struck off and 126 at risk Hospital pharmacist struck off for stealing and taking cocaine
	Although the GPhC found her fitness to practise was not impaired, it said Ms Tomaszewska was guilty of serious misconduct and warned against repeating the behaviour.

Ms Tomaszewska worked at a branch of Boots in Norwich between 2009 and 2011, during which time she spent around £9,000 at the multiple. She was entitled to 20 Advantage Card points per pound on baby products, which she bought for her new baby, the GPhC heard.  

Ms Tomaszewska said she bought in bulk on discount days and often used vouchers, which made the transaction process lengthy. As such, she "didn't want to trouble other staff with doing it". She admitted to serving herself at the tills on 267 occasions, which was a breach of staff security rules, but always made sure there was a witness present.  

Although Ms Tomaszewska could not remember all the occasions when she manually added points to her Advantage Card, she recalled adding a large number in one incident because the system kept crashing when she attempted to use the double points offer.  

Ms Tomazewska also admitted to giving a second staff discount card to her sister, who lived at a separate address. She knew this breached company policy but said she "was being stupid and did not think it would be a problem" as her sister was a new customer who was likely to spend a lot at Boots.  

At the time she was dismissed, Ms Tomaszewska said she was under pressure at work due to a lack of staff in the pharmacy. Her complaints had not been heard, she told the GPhC, and her requests for extra till training were not met.  

The GPhC noted that Ms Tomaszewska was "visibly upset" when giving her evidence and seemed to have learned from the experience. She had prevented staff from serving themselves at the till in her new job, the GPhC heard, and had also completed CPD reflecting on her misconduct.  

There were also several testimonials to Ms Tomaszewska's integrity, including one from the acting regional development manager at the Co-operative Pharmacy, where she is a branch manager. He said he had "no concerns" about her honesty and conduct, and testified that she was an outstanding pharmacist.  

Read the full case here.