A General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) fitness-to-practice (FtP) committee has suspended pharmacist Niall Thomas Murray, registration number 2033602, for six months after he refused to dispense a repeat prescription for Progesterone capsules and Estradot patches to a “trans woman” patient on October 3, 2024.
Murray refused to dispense because he said the medicine was not covered by licensing arrangements within the British National Formulary (BNF), the GPhC said at a hearing that took place between August 3 and 6.
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The committee resolved on a six-month suspension pending review, with an interim suspension imposed in the meantime.
The regulator accepted that Murray admitted it was “remiss” of him not to record the incident on the patient’s patient medical record (PMR), and he had never faced disciplinary action before.
But it stressed that the incident “breached a large number of the professional standards and could present obstacles to patients accessing care or receiving services”.
Very defensive
Murray was working as a locum pharmacist at a Superdrug in Guildford on October 3, 2024. He refused to dispense a repeat prescription of Progesterone 100mg capsules and Estradot patches to the patient, who had been prescribed the medication “by her GP at the request of her clinician”.
The patient initially spoke to Murray before waiting “some time” for the medication to be dispensed, the document noted
It said that Murray did not return to speak to her, but instead a trainee dispenser spoke to the patient to explain that she could not dispense the medication, but that the patient could speak to Murray about it.
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The trainee dispenser gave evidence that she was “visibly upset” when explaining this situation to the patient, one which she questioned Murray on, and was “shocked to encounter”.
After waiting for him, Murray offered to speak to the patient to one side, away from other customers.
The patient decided to record the conversation on her phone as she felt Murray had asked if they could step to the side “so he could try to explain or excuse himself”.
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Murray told the patient that the prescribed medication was for women (i.e. biological women) only and that he would not put his name to the supply, attributing this to scientific reasoning, the document noted.
Murray also made reference to personal experience of a relative who de-transitioned after experiencing difficulties. They discussed the option for the patient to take her prescription elsewhere.
Murray did not investigate the patient’s specific situation, nor did he contact the prescribing GP. Though he provided evidence that he had raised similar concerns regarding prescriptions of this nature on four separate occasions to GPs in the past, the GPhC stressed that “each patient must be treated on their own merits”.
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The document also noted that Murray said he had not received the Covid-19 vaccine and prompted people not to do so.
The patient described Murray as “not unpleasant” but “very defensive” during the conversation.
When the patient told Murray that she had recorded their conversation and would be making a formal complaint against him, she noted that Murray became “very upset”.
After the patient made a complaint to the pharmacy manager and the GPhC, Murray provided a response to the council’s investigation, which the regulator noted was “consistent” with what he told the patient at the time.
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Murray stated that the Summary of Product Characteristics and BNF showed that the medication was not indicated other than in women (i.e. as part of HRT for post-menopausal women).
He disputed that he “refused” to dispense per se, instead saying that he would not be involved in the supply. He accepted that no note was made in the patient’s PMR, which he says was “remiss” of him.
The GPhC said the patient has now changed her pharmacy to an online pharmacy so she can receive her medication “without judgement”.
No prior concerns
The regulator accepted that Murray did not obstruct the patient from obtaining her medication from another source and made some suggestions for how to do this.
It also acknowledged Murray’s lack of previous FtP concerns and that he has worked unrestricted and without an incident being brought to the attention of the committee since the time of the allegations.
Lack of integrity
But the GPhC stressed that Murray’s misconduct amounted to a “lack of integrity”, and had an adverse impact upon the patient, “potentially disrupting her continuity of care”.
The regulator found that he imposed his beliefs on the patient “in a way which is discriminatory”.
Murray did not appear at the hearing and was also found to offer “limited insight and lack of remediation” over the proceedings.
The regulator concluded that a six-month suspension was a “proportionate ” sanction which marked the “seriousness of the conduct”.
The regulator believed removal from the register would be disproportionate as the misconduct was regarded as “remediable”.
Read the full determination here.
