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A pharmacist who failed to ensure the pharmacy where he worked as superintendent had adequate governance and safeguards in place for the supply of cannabis-based medicines has been struck off by the General Pharmaceutical Council.

The regulator’s fitness-to-practise committee found Simon Addison Smith’s failure to have a risk assessment for the services Cannabliss Ltd provided, as well as numerous other failings, meant there would be “an ongoing risk to the public” if he was allowed to “return to unrestricted practice”.

The committee’s report said he failed to ensure “the keeping, preparing and dispensing of medicinal products other than medicinal products on a general sale list was under (his) management” between February 1, 2021 and May 10, 2022.

It found he did not maintain records to show the cannabis-based medicinal products it supplied were appropriately prescribed and no “safeguarding procedures or training” was in place to protect people who are potentially vulnerable to high-risk medicines.

Pharmacy regularly operated without Responsible Pharmacist 

The committee also heard dispensing labels were found which were not attached to a medicine but had been signed by a dispenser and pharmacist while a company director who was not a registered pharmacy professional and was untrained was working alone in the pharmacy.

The committee found the pharmacy regularly operated without a Responsible Pharmacist (RP) present, its RP log only contained nine entries, some of which spanned weeks with no absences recorded, while on March 1, 2022, and February 15, 2022, the record entry in the log did not include a time that responsibility ceased.

The report also said the private prescription register showed 40 of 167 records when no RP was recorded as being in charge of the pharmacy.

There were other failings. Smith did not ensure that Controlled Drugs were managed safely. Ninety-six of the 212 “supplied” entries in the CD register were marked “late entry” while 18 of the 59 “received” entries had “late entry” noted.

Thirty-nine of 212 records in the register “recorded a date of supply” on dates when there was no RP in charge of the pharmacy or signed into the log.

All the entries in the CD register for March 8, 2022, to May 10, 2022, were made by the director. Three records did not have a corresponding record in the private prescription register.

Five patients were identified as receiving prescriptions from two different prescribing services without records to indicate they were challenged and cannabis-based medicinal products and Schedule 2 CD were not stored in a CD cabinet.

The committee said even though “there was no evidence of harm to patients, there was a real risk of harm, including to people who may be vulnerable” which Smith “did not appear to recognise or acknowledge”.

“The registrant did not engage with the regulatory process at all. His responses were flippant,” the report said, insisting “his lack of engagement with his regulator demonstrated a flagrant disregard for the proper governance he knew was required”.

Image: The General Pharmaceutical Council is based at Canry Wharf.