Pharmacist suspended for two months after student left to dispense prescription-only medicines

Seán McCárthaigh

A Longford pharmacist and business owner, who allowed an unsupervised student pharmacist to dispense prescription-only medicines to customers, has been suspended from practising for a period of two months.

The sanction followed three findings of professional misconduct and poor professional performance made by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland against Gareth Johnston, a qualified pharmacist from Lanesboro, Co Longford, and owner of a chain of three pharmacies in Longford and Galway.

An inquiry by the PSI’s Professional Conduct Committee also found that Mr Johnston’s actions constituted breaches of the Code of Conduct for Pharmacists as well as contraventions of the Pharmacy Act 2007.

Mr Johnston was accused of allowing prescription-only and pharmacy-only medications to be given out to customers at Johnston’s Pharmacy in Lanesboro, Co Longford on April 7th, 2021, without them being personally supervised by a registered pharmacist.

On the same date, it was also claimed that he had failed to keep an accurate, ongoing, contemporaneous and retrievable record of pharmacists on duty at the outlet, contrary to the Regulation of Retail Pharmacy Business Regulations.

Mr Johnston also faced similar allegations in relation to the record of any pharmacist on duty in relation to the Allcare Pharmacy, Barrack Street, Castlerea, Co Roscommon, and Johnston’s Allcare Pharmacy, Teffia Park, Longford Town, on May 13th-14th, 2021.

At the outset of the inquiry, counsel for Mr Johnston, Conor Cahill BL, made admissions to the fact of the allegations on behalf of his client and accepted they amounted to both professional misconduct and poor professional performance.

The inquiry arose following an anonymous complaint to the PSI that a pharmacy student was being left alone at the pharmacy in Lanesboro to dispense prescription medications to customers.

An authorised officer of the PSI, Shane McGlynn, subsequently visited the pharmacy on April 7th, 2021, to make a test purchase at 12:53pm.

The sale of the pharmacy-only medication, Motilium, was facilitated by a pharmacy intern and an over-the-counter assistant.

The pharmacy student confirmed to Mr McGlynn that he had been working on his own in the pharmacy since 9:30am that morning, during which time he had sold 21 items of medication.

Mr Johnston subsequently told the PSI official that he had been in his Lanesboro pharmacy when he had been called away to provide cover in another branch because of an urgent medical matter.

The inquiry heard that Mr McGlynn also examined the pharmacy’s duty register, which indicated a large number of gaps in the record of professional cover between January and April 2021.

Counsel for the PSI Registrar, Caoimhe Daly BL, said this had raised concerns as to who was working in which pharmacy on a given date.

She told the inquiry that it had resulted in further investigations into the duty registers in other pharmacies owned by Mr Johnston.

Ms Daly said there were approximately 57 dates for which there were no entries in the records.

She said the investigation ultimately found that there were at least three dates in both the Lanesboro and Castlerea pharmacies where there was no record of a registered pharmacist at the premises and at least two dates in relation to the outlet in Teffia Park, Longford Town.

The inquiry heard that there had been a related criminal prosecution at District Court level over the sale and supply of medicinal products in the absence of a registered pharmacist.

Ms Daly said seven convictions had been secured with fines of €3,500 imposed as well as an award of costs to the PSI of €4,920.

Mr Cahill told the inquiry that significant measures had been introduced following the PSI inspections of Mr Johnston’s pharmacies.

He pointed out that Mr Johnston had produced work rotas in significant advance of the actual dates and had assumed that the trainee pharmacist in the Lanesboro outlet would have been fully registered by the date on which it was subject to the PSI inspection.

On sanction, Ms Daly said the PSI Registrar believed a suspension period of two to three months was appropriate.

She told the three-person inquiry committee that it was a serious matter and it was important from a public safety perspective to know who was in charge of a pharmacy.

She pointed out it was a systematic issue that did not relate to just one pharmacy on an isolated day.

Ms Daly argued a short period of suspension was necessary to mark the seriousness of Mr Johnston’s conduct as well as a period of conditional registration thereafter to assist the pharmacist in returning to as safe practice and to protect public safety.

However, Mr Cahill claimed the sanction recommended by Ms Daly was disproportionate in severity and would be “penal.”

He reminded the inquiry that Mr Johnston had consented to censure, together with a regime of audits across his five pharmacies.

Mr Cahill said his client fully accepted he had made a serious error and misjudgement in opening the pharmacy on the day in question but that he had taken steps to contact customers afterwards.

The inquiry heard that the pharmacist was also very remorseful about the situation in which he had placed his trainee and had also accepted that the maintenance of his duty registers was “shambolic” in certain respects.

Pleading for leniency, Mr Cahill claimed there would be serious consequences for Mr Johnston and his pharmacies if he was suspended as well as the damage to his professional and personal reputation in addition to significant financial implications.

The PSI Council, on foot of a report by the inquiry committee, directed that the pharmacist should be suspended for two months with effect from December 16th, 2025.

It ordered that Mr Johnston should not act as either a supervising or superintendent pharmacist at any outlet and to appoint others in those roles for the period of suspension.

Mr Johnston was also directed to engage an independent expert pharmacist to conduct an audit every six months of each pharmacy within his group for a period of 18 months.

The inquiry chairperson, Dermott Jewell, said Mr Johnston had shown a blatant disregard for some of his clear obligations and responsibilities.

Mr Jewell said the committee decided that a period of suspension was necessary “to maintain public confidence in the profession.”

The PSI also censured the company which operates Johnston’s Pharmacy in Lanesboro in a separate but related finding.

Earlier this summer, Mr Johnston closed two outlets – the pharmacy in Castlerea as well as another on New Street, Longford Town.