Stephen James Fleck, registration number 2073109, has been removed from the register after being convicted of theft by employee and “making false prescriptions”, General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) hearing documents have revealed.
In a remote hearing on April 9-10, the fitness-to-practise (FtP) committee heard that he was convicted at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court last May and received a 44-week prison sentence “suspended for two years” as well as 250 hours’ unpaid work and costs.
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According to the documents, Fleck pleaded guilty to “[forging] the doctor’s signature” on handwritten prescriptions and generating over 40 scripts “using the electronic prescription system (EPS) and [changing] the nominated pharmacy” to collect the drugs for himself.
He identified patients who were “already receiving dihydrocodeine” – an opioid painkiller used to treat moderate to severe pain – and “fraudulently” claimed prescriptions in their names, they said.
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The regulator acknowledged that Fleck “accepted responsibility for his actions at the first opportunity” and “co-operated with investigations”.
But it stressed that his behaviour “involved significant dishonesty that was sustained for a period of around nine months” and that there was “a high degree of breach of trust”.
“Identify suitable patients”
While working as a senior clinical pharmacist within NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust, Fleck was handed “excess drugs” — including dihydrocodeine — by a patient during a medication review, the document said.
“Instead of returning the drugs he kept them”, it added.
After this incident, he “created a total of 16 handwritten prescription forms and forged the doctor’s signature prior to them going to different pharmacies in the area and receiving that medication”, it said.
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“He also generated 43 prescription requests using the EPS and changed the nominated pharmacy, and again collected the medication,” the committee heard.
Fleck admitted that “he searched the practice clinical system to identify suitable patients where the prescriptions would be less likely to rouse suspicions”, documents said.
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They added that Fleck picked patients “who were over 60, did not pay for their prescriptions and who were already receiving dihydrocodeine”.
“The total cost of all the prescriptions accepted by him as being created or generated fraudulently was £785.45,” the regulator heard.
His actions “involved [the] unauthorised search and use of patient personal data and falsification of patient records”, it added.
“Remorse and regret”
According to the documents, his employer investigated Fleck after “suspicions were aroused” and he was “suspended from professional practice” in September 2023.
“He co-operated with professional and police enquiries and fully admitted his involvement,” they said, adding that he pleaded guilty “at the first opportunity”.
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The regulator accepted that Fleck had “engaged with [the] regulatory hearing” and acknowledged the “strong testimonial evidence in support” of him.
And it acknowledged that he “had developed considerable insight” and noted “his strong expressions of remorse and regret”.
In his oral evidence, Fleck said that he was “so relieved” that his actions “led to no actual harm, so far as I know”, according to the documents.
Repeat offender
But the regulator said that this remorse and insight did not “sufficiently [mitigate] its concerns regarding the risk of repetition”.
The committee considered that he “had previously appeared before [an] FtP committee and the criminal court for similar matters, including theft and fraud, and had repeated the misconduct”.
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It stressed that “there was a degree of planning and sophistication involving forging and falsely creating prescriptions to divert controlled drugs”, adding that “there was a high degree of breach of trust, including the misuse of patient personal data”.
And the hearing documents said that “there was potential risk to safe and effective care of patients through the falsification of their records”.
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“The registrant lacked judgement by putting his personal desires ahead of the concerns and best interests of the patients, and had practised when not fit to do so,” they added.
They said that Fleck’s actions were “a poor example to others” considering that he was in a senior position and managerial role.
“Egregious breaches”
The GPhC determined that Fleck’s actions “were such that they would bring the profession into disrepute and would be considered deplorable by fellow practitioners”.
“In circumstances where there were such egregious breaches of the professional standards”, the committee found that a suspension “would not adequately reflect the seriousness of the misconduct”.
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It concluded that “the appropriate and proportionate sanction was removal”.
Read the determination in full here.
