Pharmacist David Sowah Takyi Adjetey, registration number 2062254, was last month (November 19) warned for failing to “manage the risks” of his pharmacy’s online services, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) revealed.
The GPhC’s investigating committee heard that the pharmacy “supplied large quantities of medication” such as codeine overseas “without taking appropriate steps” to ensure that this “was legal”, according to the determination document.
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And Adjetey also “failed to ensure” that the pharmacy had the appropriate wholesale distribution licence “before supplying or selling medicinal products for human use to organisations”, it said.
The regulator acknowledged that he had taken on the role of superintendent after “assurances that he would not be responsible” for the pharmacy’s online operations.
But it stressed that he “ought to have known” that as superintendent “he was responsible for all pharmaceutical activities at the pharmacy including the online pharmacy business”.
Overseas supply
While working as superintendent at an Essex pharmacy between November 2019 and February 2021, Adjetey “failed to manage the risks to users in using the online services”, the GPhC said.
This was “particularly in respect of medicines that are liable to abuse, overuse or misuse with a risk of addiction”, it added.
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It said that the pharmacy supplied “large quantities” of drugs to North America “without taking appropriate steps to ensure that the supply was legal in the destination country”, such as Quinine Sulphate and medicines containing codeine that are banned in the USA.
The pharmacy also did not have “appropriate indemnity insurance in place as is required to cover North America or supplies of medication in Nigeria”, the GPhC added.
“Careful consideration”
The regulator heard that there is “no evidence to suggest that the role of superintendent at any time had involvement in the day-to-day running of the online pharmacy business”.
And Adjetey “explained that he took on the role…after careful consideration and assurances that he would not be responsible for the online pharmacy business”, it said.
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But it highlighted that the superintendent “is responsible for the way in which the pharmacy carries out its professional pharmaceutical activities, which includes those provided online”.
He “ought to have known” that “he could not agree to absolve himself of that responsibility in the role”, it said.
And Adjetey had submitted paperwork to be listed as superintendent for the pharmacy that “encompassed all regulated activities operated by them”, it added.
“Serious and prolonged”
The committee found that Adjetey’s conduct “presents an actual or potential risk to patient or public safety and undermines or is likely to undermine the confidence in the pharmacy profession”.
It said that his breach of the professional standards was both “serious and occurred over a prolonged period of time”.
It warned him that he “must ensure he fully understands the duties and responsibilities of any professional roles that he undertakes and is able to perform them adequately”.
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And it said that drugs “must not be wholesaled without the appropriate licence, adequate indemnity insurance must be held” for medicine supplies and “robust systems and checks must be in place [for supplying] medication at a distance, particularly those liable to abuse”.
It concluded that the “appropriate” outcome is a warning to be published on the register and available for 12 months.
Read the determination in full here.
