Panel hearing summary 2012.0175

Decision of the Pharmacy Board of Australia

Performance and Professional Standards Panel

Jurisdiction: Victoria

Date of Hearing: 12 November 2012

Date of Decision: 5 December 2012

Classification of Notification:

Pharmacy/medication- Inappropriate, unlawful or inaccurate dispensing.

Allegations

It was alleged that the pharmacist had behaved in a way that constituted unprofessional conduct under section 191(1)(b)(ii) of the National Law in that they:

• dispensed medication different to that which had been prescribed but labelled as the prescribed medication
• provided inadequate information to the prescribing doctor when questioned about the appearance of the dispensed medicine.

Finding

The pharmacist admitted that they had erred in dispensing the medication by failing to check the product, use the barcode scanner and check the dispensed product when counselling the patient. The panel accepted the admission and on the evidence also found that the pharmacist had provided inadequate and ill-considered responses to the prescribing doctor about the appearance of the medication.

The panel held that the pharmacist had engaged in unprofessional conduct and had failed in all the ways alleged.

The panel stressed the importance of pharmacists using the counselling time with each patient to do a final check on both the label and packaging of dispensed medication.

The panel acknowledged that since the incident, the pharmacist reviewed the stock in the dispensary monthly, used the bar code scanner at each dispensing and confirmed patient details against label at counselling.

Determination

The panel cautioned the pharmacist.