Pharmacist Hayley Louise McIntyre, registration number 6066, was handed a 12-month suspension by the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) after “dishonestly making a representation” on a Universal Credit declaration “that she knew to be false”.
At a hearing on November 25, the PSNI’s statutory committee heard that McIntyre had received overpayments of just over £52,000 in Universal Credit after failing to report that she “had undeclared capital”.
According to the hearing document, she was convicted at the Crown Court in Londonderry in 2024 and sentenced to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years.
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The committee heard that McIntyre “accepts that her fitness to practise is impaired” - and that as she had made “early admissions in both the criminal and regulatory proceedings”, it was “difficult to see how she could have conducted herself in a more proper manner”.
But the regulator said a “conviction for a dishonesty offence was inherently serious”, the pharmacist “had breached fundamental tenets of the profession” and the conviction “called into question [her] integrity”.
Pleaded guilty
The PSNI said that a property was “transferred into [McIntyre’s] sole name” in 2018 - and that the following year, while she was a practising pharmacist, McIntyre declared on a Universal Credit application that “she had housing costs and lived in a property she owns” and “had capital £300”.
McIntyre represented that the information provided in her application “was correct and complete”, despite failing to report that “she had undeclared capital”, it added.
And it said the Department for Communities determined that between March 7, 2019 and March 6, 2023, McIntyre had received overpayments amounting to £52,036 in Universal Credit.
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The committee heard that in July 2024, McIntyre pleaded guilty at the Crown Court in Londonderry to “dishonestly” making a representation “that she knew to be false” on a Universal Credit declaration, “with a view to obtaining Universal Credit for herself or another”.
In October of the same year, she received a custodial sentence of one year and six months, suspended for three years, and “made a self-declaration” to the PSNI “by email following her conviction”, it heard.
The PSNI added that confiscation order proceedings were dropped in November 2024 due to the overpayment “having been repaid” by McIntyre.
“High levels of remorse”
The committee heard that a probation service report concluded McIntyre “had expressed high levels of remorse”, “referred to evidence of insight” and found that “the risk of reoffending was low”.
It also heard that McIntyre had “repaid the money in full” on a “voluntary basis without the need for a confiscation order”, and that this “was real and tangible evidence of remediation”.
And it was told that there were “no competence issues in respect of” McIntyre and this “was not a case concerning patient safety or risk to the public”, with no patients having “come to harm or potential harm”.
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The regulator pointed out that the criminal behaviour took place over six years ago and that McIntyre “has continued to work, with her supervisors describing her work in a positive manner”.
It also acknowledged a statement from the pharmacist in which she accepted that “her actions were dishonest” and “fell below the expected standards”, and recognised that “patients expect pharmacists to act with integrity at all times”.
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McIntyre “referred to personal and financial pressures at the time of her offending but stated these were not excuses”, and described the incident “as being out of character”, it said.
It added that the statement said she had “sold the relevant house in order to pay back the money in full” and also said “that she deeply regretted her actions”.
“Impugned her integrity”
However, the PSNI stressed that McIntyre’s offending behaviour was “a serious matter” and the “conduct giving rise to the conviction” - which “expressly involved dishonesty” - shows that her integrity “can no longer be relied upon”.
It added that her reflection account contained “limited detail and depth”, and that as she had not given oral evidence, the committee was “unable to test the authenticity and sincerity of the stated remorse”.
The regulator noted that McIntyre is “clearly on a journey and has taken significant steps towards addressing impairment” - but said remediating dishonest behaviour is “inherently difficult” and the committee “has been provided with limited information as to why [she] behaved the way that she did”.
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McIntyre has “impugned her integrity and has not provided a reflective account with sufficient depth and detail so as to reassure the committee that there would be no risk of repetition in the future”, it said.
The committee also heard that “the public would be appalled” by McIntyre’s conviction and that the crime “involved a significant amount of money and appeared to be for personal gain”.
The PSNI said McIntyre’s actions “were of a nature which would destroy trust instantly” and that “she hasn’t completed the journey she is on, and there remain questions as to how far she has travelled”.
Fitness to practise “impaired”
The committee determined that McIntyre’s fitness to practise “is currently impaired on both the personal and public components”, and that the case was “finely balanced” between a 12-month suspension and removal from the register.
It added that “a long suspension with a review before its expiry would uphold the public interest”.
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The regulator concluded that a suspension of 12 months “would demonstrate how finely balanced the decision was” and that a “suspension of this duration was proportionate”.
It was “mindful that a period of suspension would impact” McIntyre “both personally and financially”, it said, but felt that “no lesser sanction would adequately mark the seriousness of her actions and uphold the public interest”.
Read the determination in full here.
