Greater Manchester Police has told the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) that a number of pharmacies in South Manchester – “particularly [in] Wythenshawe and [the] immediate surrounding areas” – are being presented with false FP10 prescriptions (see main image and here).

The fraudulent prescriptions are signed by an unlicensed prescriber, and include 112 diazepam 10mg tablets, 84 nitrazepam 5mg tablets, and 56 pregabalin 300mg capsules, the NPA said on Tuesday (March 5).

The prescriber on the fraudulent prescriptions is Dr Cheyan Datta, who has not had a General Medical Council licence to practise since February 2017, the NPA explained.

The surgery on the prescriptions, The Village Medical Centre in Littleborough, Lancashire, has said the name of the patient requesting the medicines is not registered with them, the NPA added.

The handwriting of the prescriber and the patient on the prescriptions also have “similar traits”, it said.

Pharmacists and their teams need to be “vigilant” and “act accordingly” if any prescriptions look suspicious, the NPA advised.

This includes checking the prescriber details on the relevant professional register and, when necessary, contacting the prescriber to clarify medicine queries, the NPA said.