Pharmacist PSE reprimand
March 2, 2016
THE Queensland Civil and
Administrative Tribunal (QCAT)
has formally reprimanded a
former pharmacist after finding he
engaged in unprofessional conduct.
The move follows a referral by
the Pharmacy Board of Australia
in relation to Robert Donald Louis,
over concerns about his practice
between 2009 and 2011 when he
worked part-time at the Nerang
Day and Night Phamacy.
The Board alleged that Louis had
engaged in professional misconduct
by selling pseudoephedrine,
“a drug which is well known to
pharmacists for its potential for
misuse and abuse”.
According to the Pharmacy Board,
Louis breached section 273A of
the Health (Drugs and Poisons)
Regulation 1996 because he did not
comply with the pharmacy’s quality
standard for the sale of schedule 2
or schedule 3 poisons.
He was also found to be in
breach of section 285A of the
regulation, which requires a
person selling pseudoephedrine to
record particulars of the sale as an
electronic record that is accessible
online by both the chief executive
of Queensland Health and the Qld
Commissioner of Police.
Louis was also alleged to have
sold the pseudoephedrine in the
absence of a therapeutic need, in
breach of section 277.
The move follows an investigation
by Queensland Health in 2011,
which audited and analysed the
pharmacy’s dispensing data about
pseudoephedrine products.
In December 2011 Louis’
endorsement for all drugs and
poisons with pseudoephedrine
as the active ingredient was
suspended for 12 months, and
a year later the Board imposed
conditions on his registration.
In 2013 the pharmacist
surrendered his registration, having
retired from practice.
In this most recent development
Louis conceded that the Board
had proven the allegations, and
the parties “jointly proposed a
sanction which was accepted by the
tribunal”.
QCAT found that he had engaged
in unprofessional conduct,
reprimanded him and ordered him
to pay the Board’s legal costs.
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