Helen Louise Halliwell, registration number 2056375, has been removed from the register after stealing and consuming controlled medication from the pharmacy where she was serving as a locum responsible pharmacist.
At the hearing between August 4 and August 6, the GPhC’s fitness-to-practise committee heard that Halliwell stole oramorph, co-codamol, codeine and methadone from Boots Bank Hey Street in Blackpool, and was caught on CCTV consuming controlled medication while on shift.
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According to the hearing document, Halliwell “was the most senior person in the pharmacy whilst on duty” and therefore had keys to the cupboard where controlled drugs were kept.
At the hearing, the committee acknowledged Halliwell’s “unblemished professional working record”.
However, they stressed that her conduct was “pre-planned, deliberate, [and] surreptitious”, and not “impulsive or isolated”.
Second discrepancy within a month
Halliwell was working as the locum and responsible pharmacist primarily on weekends and eventually just on Sundays.
Controlled drugs were kept in a locked cupboard, and keys were kept “in a safe within a bag which was stapled shut at the end of each day”. Every week, the controlled drugs would be checked against delivery and prescription figures and logged in the controlled drug book.
On May 27, 2024, the operations manager for the pharmacy received a call from another colleague about an descrepancy of medication, the “second within a month”. She checked for herself on May 28 and found 160ml of methadone unaccounted for.
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When she checked the CCTV, she saw Halliwell “filling bottles in stages” before “putting the bottles inside her bag and concealing this by placing her coat over the contents”. The footage also caught her taking drug blister packs.
Halliwell was reported to the police, controlled drugs accountable officer and the GPhC and on February 27, 2025, accepted a police caution for the theft of methadone.
“No evidence of actual patient harm”
In deciding upon an appropriate outcome, the committee considered that Halliwell was “a woman of good character prior to the hearing” who had co-operated with police and the regulator, “made appropriate admissions” and “expressed genuine remorse and regret for her behaviour”.
They also acknowledged the mitigating circumstances that led to Halliwell’s actions, the positive character references she had provided, and that there was “no evidence of actual patient harm” as a result of her actions.
Further, following her admissions, she enrolled in therapy, “endeavored to maintain her professional knowledge”, and “has worked free from incident or concern for over two years” and secured promotion under employers aware of the regulatory proceedings against her.
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However, the committee emphasised the “careful planning” which went into Halliwell’s actions and their “dishonest nature”.
They stressed that her actions “demonstrated a serious breach of trust” and noted that her admissions were made “in a piecemeal manner” which failed to convince the committee that “the misconduct would not have continued if colleagues had not raised their concerns”.
“Regrettable”
When deciding upon a sanction, the committee maintained that Halliwell’s actions “could not be considered anything less than an egregious derogation from the professional standards”.
They found that she took “advantage of her privileged access to controlled medication” and “which flagrantly breached her most basic responsibilities as a registered healthcare practitioner”.
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Consequently, despite her previously “unblemished career”, the committee “regrettably” decided that Halliwell’s removal from the register was the sole appropriate outcome.
Read the full determination here.
