THE Pharmacy Board of Australia has reprimanded a former registered pharmacist in South Australia and disqualified him for five years, after he was convicted of criminal trespass and failed to notify the Board of the charges.
Andrew Roberts was referred to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in May 2022, with the Board alleging he had engaged in professional misconduct, in that he was "convicted of crimes including trespass with intent to commit theft; theft; and dishonestly manipulating a machine for benefit" by creating false computer records.
A Dec 2022 hearing before the Tribunal heard that since mid-2018 the pharmacist had been employed in an Adelaide pharmacy, and just over a month after starting work there he "dishonestly obtained drugs of dependency by creating false records of prescriptions in the pharmacy's drug dependency computer program," according to a Board update.
The pharmacist did this on about 39 occasions, entering almost 70 false prescriptions over an 18- month period.
In addition, having resigned from the pharmacy in Sep 2019, Roberts later returned to the pharmacy on three occasions and repeated the behaviour of accessing the computer program, making false entries and stealing drugs.
The Pharmacy Board said this conduct came to light soon after his resignation, and Roberts was charged with the criminal offences, later pleading guilty and being convicted in the South Australian Magistrates Court.
He did not notify the Board of the criminal charges, and although the pharmacist entered a plea of guilty, he did not participate in any way in the Tribunal proceedings.
"On the information before the Tribunal he has done nothing further to accept professional responsibility for his actions," the Tribunal concluded.
In considering the risk that Roberts might pose if he were to practise as a pharmacist in the future, the Tribunal noted that no evidence had been submitted to substantiate his claim to the Magistrate's Court that he had a substance use disorder, or that he had successfully been through a rehabilitation program.
Without that evidence "a significant period of disqualification and prohibition against providing any health service" was required to protect the public, the Tribunal found, concluding the former pharmacist's criminal convictions constituted professional misconduct.
He was reprimanded, disqualified from registration and prohibited from providing any health service for five years starting 13 Dec 2022, and ordered to pay the Pharmacy Board's legal costs.
The Pharmacy Board published a summary of the case on its website on Fri.
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