The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has found that Mohammed Habib, registration number 2071490, is no longer impaired in his fitness to practise following a 12-month suspension over misconduct during his time as a pharmacist and clinical lead at UK Meds.
At a review hearing on September 1, the GPhC found that Habib’s submitted reflections demonstrated “an in-depth, microanalysis of his behaviour and of each concern”.
According to the determination document, the regulator acknowledged that Habib’s misconduct was “extremely serious” but said he has since “demonstrated genuine remorse and regret”.
“Easily manipulated” prescribing model
The GPhC said Habib’s misconduct took place between November 2019 and July 2022, while he was working as a pharmacist prescriber for UK Meds. Habib was also employed as the online pharmacy’s clinical lead from approximately July 2020 to September 2021.
The committee heard that during his time at UK Meds, Habib prescribed medicines “on 62,689 occasions using an online questionnaire-based prescribing model”, despite the medicines being “unsuitable to be prescribed on that basis”.
The GPhC found that some 4,859 of the prescribed medicines were classified as “high-risk” and that in some circumstances, the questionnaire relied upon “could be easily manipulated by patients”.
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It said Habib “failed to prescribe medicines in accordance” with the relevant prescribing guidelines from the General Medical Council, Royal Pharmaceutical Society or GPhC.
He issued medicines without obtaining “adequate information” beforehand, relied “principally” on the patient-provided questionnaire and failed to consult patient GP records, it noted.
The GPhC also held that Habib had “prescribed a significant portion of prescriptions in circumstances where the time taken would not have been sufficient for [him] to clinically evaluate the suitability of the medicines”.
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It said his approach to prescribing was “transactional” and that he had “failed to put adequate safety-netting in place”.
And it found that in his role as clinical lead, he failed to ensure that other prescribers made adequate checks with regards to “approximately 14,259 prescriptions for high-risk medicines”.
As a result, Habib was issued a 12-month suspension, with the committee finding that his fitness to practise was impaired and that his insight into his misconduct was “incomplete”.
First review hearing
At Habib’s first review hearing in February, the committee was “impressed with the number of reflections and learning” he had undertaken, and said there was “nothing more that he could have done”.
It described his submissions as “detailed”, “comprehensive” and “deeply reflective”, and found that all the suggestions made at the principal hearing had been “sufficiently met”.
But the committee said it “remained concerned” that Habib “had not yet had an opportunity to demonstrate that he has applied his learning and reflection to his practice”, and placed him under a six-month order of conditional registration.
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At the second review hearing on September 1, the committee said Habib “no longer sought to excuse his misconduct in relation to contextual factors” and now recognised that “he should have behaved very differently”.
The committee identified “numerous examples of how he has directly changed his practise in prescribing” - including “advocating to his superiors” for longer consultation appointments, so as not to allow “time pressures to influence his clinical decision making” as they had done in the past.
“Learnt a very salutary lesson”
The committee concluded that Habib had “addressed all the areas of concern raised”, had “demonstrated genuine remorse and regret” and had “made it clear that the safe and effective care of patients is his priority at all times”.
It added that his misconduct has had “a long and meaningful impact on him” and that he has “learnt a very salutary lesson”.
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The committee decided that “the risk of repetition or a risk to patients is now minimal” and that Habib “no longer poses an unwarranted risk of harm”.
Habib’s fitness to practise is no longer impaired, it said, and he can “return to unrestricted practise” when his current conditions lapse on September 18.
Read the full determination here.
