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A superintendent pharmacist whose pharmacy supplied large quantities of medicines to customers in North America without making sure the supply met legal requirements has been warned by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

Folake Oluwatoyin Adeniran was given the warning by the GPhC’s investigating committee after failing to take “appropriate steps” to ensure the legality of the supply while working at Dock Pharmacy in Tilbury, Essex. The committee used medicines containing codeine to illustrate the type of drugs that are banned in the US.

In its report on the hearing, the committee said she failed to ensure the pharmacy had appropriate indemnity insurance in place to allow it to supply medicines to North America. The pharmacy was found not to have the appropriate wholesale distribution licence needed to supply or sell medicinal products for human use to organisations.

The committee also said Ms Adeniran “failed to manage the risks to users in using the online services at the pharmacy, particularly in respect of medicines that are liable to abuse, overuse or misuse with a risk of addiction”.

“The registrant failed to ensure that adequate systems and processes were in place in relation to the supply of these medicines and to ensure that adequate safeguards were in place for medicines that require ongoing monitoring or management,” the report said.

The concerns related to the period February 22, 2021 to June 25, 2021. The committee heard Ms Adeniran took on the role of superintendent pharmacist “reluctantly whilst the directors found someone else to take on the role” and she “was not involved in the running of the online pharmacy business”.

However, it concluded that although there was “no evidence to suggest” the superintendent pharmacist was involved “in the day to day running of the online pharmacy business”, that individual “is responsible for the way the pharmacy carries out its professional pharmaceutical activities, which includes those provided online”.

The committee added: “This is a regulated role which is important to the safe and effective operation of pharmacy services to the public. The registrant ought to have known as superintendent that she was responsible for all pharmaceutical activities at the pharmacy, including the online pharmacy business, and that she could not agree to absolve herself of that responsibility in the role of superintendent.”

Ms Adeniran was found to have breached four standards covering registrants providing person-centred care, working in partnership with others, using their professional judgement and demonstrating leadership.