A pharmacist has been suspended for six months by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) for attempting to remove a “strip of Tramadol” from a LloydsDirect Pharmacy warehouse.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) last month (October 22) issued Khalid Sayed, registration number 224625, with a six-month suspension for attempting to “remove one strip of Tramadol 10 capsules from Lloyds Direct Pharmacy” without having a “valid prescription”.
When leaving the medication waste disposal warehouse in February 2022, Sayed was searched and “was found to be in possession of one strip of tramadol covered in blue paper”, the committee said.
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The registrant had previously been given a nine-month suspension in a principal hearing in January, but was suspended for “a further six months” in October, the hearing document said.
The fitness-to-practice (FtP) committee found the registrant had “not developed sufficient insight into his misconduct” and felt another suspension was necessary.
“Dishonesty was deliberate”
The regulator acknowledged that the registrant “suffered from a health condition” at the time of the incident, which “represented out-of-character behaviour” in an “otherwise unblemished career”.
The committee also said Sayed had “engaged in the regulatory process” and did not “argue that his actions did not amount to misconduct”.
But it noted that the registrant “demonstrated a lack of candour by stating that his actions were accidental” and stressed that his “dishonesty was deliberate”.
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A LloydsDirect area manager spotted a “strip of tramadol” on the registrant’s workstation in February 2022 and after viewing CCTV footage, they discovered that he had wrapped the medicine in “a roll of blue paper”.
Sayed was stopped and searched at the end of his shift and the tramadol – a “controlled drug” – was discovered “in his pocket”.
A disciplinary hearing a few days later heard that the registrant was “not feeling well” on the week of the incident and “did not notice medication in the blue roll”, calling the incident “completely accidental”.
“Loss of trust”
Sayed’s employment was terminated in March 2022 after the pharmacy concluded its investigation, noting that he was “aware of the process regarding medical waste and chose not to follow it”.
It added that the CCTV footage indicated the incident was “an intentional act” and there was a “loss of trust” in the registrant to “continue in [their] role as an employee”.
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In a written response to the committee, the registrant did “apologise for his actions” and expressed his “shame and disgust”.
Sayed said he was facing “personal issues” at the time of the incident that “impacted his mental state” and “could have exacerbated [his] carelessness, lack of attention and inability to focus”.
“I am extremely embarrassed by my actions and know I have let myself down,” he said.
“Abusing his position”
But the committee stressed that the registrant would have been “well aware” that tramadol was only intended for consumption by those with a “valid prescription”.
“Such conduct has the potential to cause serious harm to others”, it said, adding that he “failed to behave professionally by abusing his position and failed to lead by example”.
“The committee has concluded that the registrant has not developed sufficient insight into his misconduct and therefore there remains a risk of repetition,” the regulator said.
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It concluded that Sayed’s fitness to practice “remains impaired” and recommended that “the appropriate period of suspension should be a further six months”.
“This sanction is sufficient to protect the public and address the public interest element, as he will not be able to practice as a pharmacist,” the committee added.
Read the determination in full here.