Stephen Alan Rodgers, registration number 3536, has received a six-month suspension from the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) after “[abusing his] position as a pharmacist and as a manager of pharmacy premises to unlawfully obtain medicinal and retail products”.
In a hearing on March 12-13, the committee heard that Rodgers “dishonestly appropriated” property belonging to Gordons Chemist including Neupro transdermal patches – a POM used to treat Parkinson’s disease – and “various retail products” while working at the pharmacy.
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According to the hearing documents, he also “unlawfully obtained” prescription antibiotic metronidazole tablets “for [his] own or another’s use…without a valid prescription” and “failed to make any record” of this supply.
The regulator accepted that Rodgers had “an unblemished work record as a pharmacist for 24 years” and that “there was no evidence of any patient harm” from his actions.
But it stressed that he had “engaged in acts of dishonesty” and that his actions “were deliberate and not one off”.
No “valid prescription”
After concerns were raised about Rodgers’ “activities” while he was working as a pharmacy manager at a Gordons Chemist in Belfast, “cameras were installed within the pharmacy without informing [him] that this had occurred”, the committee heard.
CCTV footage revealed that in February 2024, Rodgers “stole various retail products, namely a deodorant and razor blades”, documents said, as well as mouthwash and metronidazole tablets.
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He took the medicine “without having a valid prescription” and made “no patient medication record (PMR) entry or any other record of a dispensing activity,” they said, adding that the medication was taken from the pharmacy “for use by a family member”.
When asked by an area manager, Rodgers denied that he had taken retail products from the pharmacy and said that the mouthwash was “potentially still in the boot of his car” as he was taking it to another Gordons Chemist branch that “needed it for a patient”.
While the mouthwash was not found in the car, the area manager instead discovered “a Gordons Chemist carrier bag containing 14 boxes of (28) Neupro transdermal patches”, the council heard.
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“Enquiries revealed that this medication had been returned to the pharmacy for destruction after the patient to whom it had been dispensed passed away”, documents said, and Rodgers stole the returned POM medicine “without a valid prescription or lawful authority” in October 2023.
Though he initially denied taking the Neupro from the pharmacy during a formal investigation by his employer, he later “stated that he did take the medication but did not know why” when told there was CCTV footage of him doing so, they added.
“Abused” position of trust
Rodgers “admitted taking, without payment, the retail products...and the mouthwash and POM”, as well as admitting that his previous account about the mouthwash “was untrue”, the committee said.
It found that Rodgers “behaved in a manner that was dishonest” and “abused his position of trust” as a pharmacy manager, noting that his misconduct was “not isolated” and had been “repeated over a period of time” from October 2023 to February 2024.
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“He breached a basic professional obligation not to treat family and friends, or anyone who he had a close personal relationship with,” it said.
“There is evidence of untruthfulness and evasion...he attempted to conceal his actions, sought to deflect and misdirect, until confronted with the evidence about his actions, including CCTV footage,” it added.
“Lower level” of dishonesty
The regulator received five references that were “supportive” of Rodgers, “describing him as experienced, knowledgeable, fair, dedicated and empathetic”.
It also accepted that “the level of dishonesty was at a lower level that included theft of low value retail items” and that he “did admit the allegations” at the regulatory hearing.
But the council stressed that it was “not satisfied with the extent of insight that [Rodgers] had demonstrated into his actions and why he acted this way against the background of a 24 year career in pharmacy”.
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“When the allegations were put to him during the employer’s investigation process, [he] prevaricated and failed to admit his actions until he was faced with evidence against him,” it said.
And it added that Rodger’s actions “significantly damaged his own professional and personal reputation and...the reputation of the profession as a whole”.
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The committee found that his fitness to practise was impaired but decided that his behaviour was not “fundamentally incompatible with continued registration”.
It concluded that a suspension for a “period of six months would be sufficient to afford the registrant time to meet the expectations that the committee has set out”.
Read the determination in full here.
