The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) last month (February 6) found that pharmacist Thoai Nguyen, registration number 2052038, “brought the profession of pharmacy into disrepute” when she “failed to carry out the required checks” when facilitating the sale of over-labelled stock via unregistered brokers.
In 2019, the Park Pharmacy superintendent pharmacist and director “signed a technical agreement” with pharmaceutical brokers and wholesalers Nitespharma, the GPhC’s report said.
The deal agreed that Nitespharma would purchase and supply stock to the pharmacy or for wholesale and that “any over-labelled stock supplied was intended for pharmacy use on NHS patients only”, it added.
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But the GPhC found that Nguyen “allowed or facilitated some of the [over-labelled] medicines supplied through the agreement to be sold wholesale”.
It also found that she “engaged with unregistered brokers” for the onward sale of the medicines even though she “knew or ought to have known that the brokers were not registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)”.
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The report said that Nguyen “failed to carry out the required checks” in breach of regulations and “for personal financial gain”.
The committee said that it considered her “remorse, remediation and full insight”.
But it “decided that there does need to be a public acknowledgement that [her] conduct was unacceptable”.
“No due diligence”
“The committee has decided that your fitness to practise (FtP) is not currently impaired,” the GPhC said.
But it still decided to “issue a warning in this case”.
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“You have been found to have engaged in unsolicited services from an unknown broker, where no due diligence, including checking whether the broker was licenced, was conducted,” it said.
“This conduct was unacceptable, unprofessional and falls below the standard acceptable for a registered pharmacy professional,” it added.
“Must not be repeated”
“Although your practice is not currently impaired, the committee…is of the view that a warning is required to stand as a reminder to you and the wider profession of the importance of behaving in a professional manner at all times,” it said.
“Such actions may negatively affect the reputation of pharmacy professionals and must not be repeated,” it added.
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“This warning will be published on the register and will be available for 12 months,” it said.
Read the warning in full here.
