James Alexander, registration number 2086164, was handed a 12-month suspension by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) after receiving a police caution for stealing medicines, including controlled drugs, from his place of work.
At hearings between June 8 and 10, which Alexander did not attend, the GPhC’s fitness to practise (FtP) committee heard he also “worked whilst in an unfit state through the consumption of prescription-only medication or controlled drugs”.
And according to the determination document, Alexander “failed to sign in to the responsible pharmacist (RP) log” the same day, despite holding this position at the pharmacy.
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The committee found that Alexander had shown “some limited insight” into his actions “by accepting the police conditional caution” for the theft by an employee and having possession of the class C drugs zopiclone and gabapentin.
But it said the theft of medication from his workplace was a breach of both “the trust of his employer” and his responsibility as the pharmacy’s RP.
“Spoke gibberish”
The GPhC said that on August 17, 2024, Alexander was late for work at HealthPoint Pharmacy in Bewdley, and the superintendent “assumed the role of the RP” in his absence.
When he arrived at work at 12:30pm, Alexander “mentioned his diabetes” and placed an insulin pen in the pharmacy’s fridge.
After the superintendent left, Alexander was the only pharmacist on the premises and was assisted by two dispensers, AP and JS.
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AP’s witness statement said Alexander’s behaviour was “very different” to when they had worked together before, describing him as “very flustered”, “very fidgety and speaking really quickly so I could not understand what he was saying properly”.
AP said he started to “sway back and forth a lot”, “kept picking up prescriptions and putting them back down” and “looked very pale” - but was told by Alexander that he was “struggling to work because of a change to his insulin”.
She added that he then took “an unknown item out of his jacket pocket”, and “put something in his mouth” before putting his head “under the tap for a drink of water”.
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Alexander continued “to speak gibberish and could not stand up straight”, AP said. When he suggested that he accompany AP to the shop, she had to remind him that as RP he needed to remain in the pharmacy.
Alexander later told AP that he was “going to take tablets as he was taking a new type of insulin” and “consumed a whole packet of sweets very quickly”.
“Importantly, AP cannot recall an occasion through the day where [Alexander] checked his blood sugar levels,” the GPhC noted.
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The regulator said Alexander was “not able to finish his workload by 5pm” due to the state he was in.
The regulator said AP saw Alexander put gabapentin in his hand before saying words to the effect of “this is why you shouldn’t leave me alone by myself in this state”.
She also saw Alexander crouch down with a pair of scissors looking like “he was about to cut something”, and he told her he was checking boxes of zopiclone because “there wasn’t the correct amount in the split”.
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AP, however, said she had already “double checked all of the medications” herself – and when she “went to find a batch of zopiclone she had used previously, she was unable to find it”.
At around 5:30pm, the two dispensers contacted the superintendent pharmacist about their concerns regarding Alexander, and he suggested calling an ambulance as it was thought that Alexander “may be suffering from a hypoglycaemic attack”.
When the paramedics arrived, Alexander “refused to give consent” for them to access his medical records.
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Consent was finally granted after “approximately 45 minutes”, when it was confirmed that Alexander “did not have diabetes and was not prescribed insulin”. A blood test by the paramedics also revealed that “his blood sugar levels were okay”.
Medication “including a box of zopiclone” was then found in the pocket of Alexander’s blazer. “Several boxes of amitriptyline, gabapentin and mirtazapine” were also found after emptying his bag, as well as “insulin needles with another person’s name on the label”.
Alexander told the paramedics the medication was either his or his partner’s, before police “arrived at the pharmacy and arrested” him.
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The GPhC said police photographs “indicate that a number” of other drugs were also found on Alexander, namely pregabalin, tramadol and codeine phosphate.
On November 24, 2024, Alexander accepted a conditional caution for “theft by an employee” and having possession of a Class C controlled drug.
He also signed a community resolution disposal on October 14, 2024, and it was agreed he would “attend a rehabilitation course for drug abuse”.
“Opportunistic”
While Alexander did not engage with the FtP hearing, the committee noted that he told the police he took items from the pharmacy and kept them for himself “for personal use for mental health”.
“It’s an addiction,” Alexander told police. “Pharmacies have returns procedure, they are thrown away, I’ve taken them out of bins, it’s opportunistic.”
The committee also noted that Alexander’s conduct “could in principle be remedied if he were to access appropriate support in relation to his alleged addiction”.
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It added that a previous regulatory concern dating back to 2017, which had been redacted in the hearing document, saw Alexander engage “positively and proactively” with the GPhC.
This demonstrated that he had been able to “engage with the regulator and to comply with undertakings imposed by the regulator” in the past, it said.
No reflections
The committee did, however, note Alexander’s previous regulatory history as an aggravating factor in the current case.
It also stressed that Alexander’s “junior staff had to look after him” and “were so concerned that they called the superintendent pharmacist”.
The committee found that his behaviour is not “easily remediable” as the theft of drugs from the pharmacy brings into question his “honest and integrity”.
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It added that Alexander’s conduct “suggests an apparent wilful disregard of his responsibilities as a professional who had privileged access to medications which are known to be open to misuse”.
And it said that because he did not engage with the hearing process, the committee has no knowledge of Alexander’s “insight or reflections upon his failings” and the risk of repeating the behaviour “remains high”.
The committee said it did not consider Alexander to be “currently safe to practise”.
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But it added that a removal from the register would be “unduly punitive”, and that a “period of suspension together with a review towards its end is the appropriate and proportionate outcome at this stage”.
And it said Alexander “ought to be afforded a further opportunity to engage with this regulatory process should he wish to”.
Read the determination in full here.
