A NSW-BASED pharmacist with more than 40 years' experience will be unable to hold registration for at least 12 months after being found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to his failure to properly maintain the dangerous drugs register at the pharmacy he was working in.
A Civil and Administrative Tribunal of NSW, heard that between 01 Jan 2017 and 03 Sep 2018, more than 12,000 tablets of oxycodone and alprazolam were "unaccounted for and were possibly lost, stolen or diverted", while John Negus was one of two pharmacists in charge at the Erina Heights Chemist Outlet.
Between the same dates, Negus was also found to have failed to change his password to the electronic dangerous drugs record, despite knowing it was accessible by others in the pharmacy.
On 10 Sep 2018 the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Unit (PRU) inspected the pharmacy, identifying discrepancies in the dangerous drugs register, and submitted a complaint to the Pharmacy Council of NSW, three days later.
The Tribunal heard that on or before 24 Aug 2018, Negus had failed to appropriately store ritalin and targin at the pharmacy, which had been dispensed to two patients, while around the same time targin was inappropriately dispensed for a recently deceased patient.
The PRU investigation also found that on 08 Dec 2014 Negus had dispensed 12 tablets of sildenafil 50mg with two repeats to another patient, in excess of what had been prescribed - four tablets of sildenafil 25mg with five repeats.
The Tribunal noted that there was "no suggestion that Negus himself, stole or diverted drugs", before issuing its ruling, while also acknowledging that the pharmacist had made it clear that he "understands his wrongdoing and is contrite".
The Tribunal noted that Negus is no longer registered as a health practitioner, but ordered he should not be entitled to apply for registration as a pharmacist for a period of one year from 04 May.
Negus has also been ordered to pay one-third of the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission's legal costs.
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