2021-02-24 18:11:50
The recent decision in General Pharmaceutical Council v Rabadia [2021] 2 WLUK 258 illustrates how difficult it can be to remove oneself from the GPhC’s register if fitness to practise proceedings are pending, and how things may change in future.
Mr Rabadia had worked as a locum pharmacist. The owner became suspicious of high volumes of controlled drugs that were ordered on days that Mr Rabadia worked. Mr Rabadia admitted he had been selling the drugs over the counter and to specific people who had placed orders whom he could not name. There was no evidence of these explanations. The owner reported the matter to the police.
The GPhC’s Fitness to Practise Committee imposed an 18-month interim suspension pending a full (principal) hearing. When the interim suspensions had been reviewed, Mr Rabadia had participated in the hearings and accepted he had failed to comply with professional standards, that he had put the public at risk, and had brought the profession into disrepute.
The principal fitness to practise hearing had not taken place because the police investigation was not complete. The interim suspension was about to expire. Mr Rabadia did not consent to an extension of the interim suspension because he wanted the fitness to practise proceedings to be finalised and he wanted to be struck off so that he could move on with his life.
The GPhC applied to the High Court to extend the interim suspension. Mr Tim Corner QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, held that the court was required to look at the gravity of the allegations, the seriousness of the risk posed to the public, the reasons the proceedings had not yet reached a conclusion, and the prejudice to Mr Rabadia caused by the extension. The judge ruled that the prejudice which Mr Rabadia would suffer was outweighed by the need to protect the public’s confidence in the profession in the light of the seriousness of the allegations. To protect the public, the interim suspension was extended by 12 months which was considered to be a reasonable and proportionate period having regard to the timescale of the criminal investigation.
The recent consultation by the GPhC on its fitness to practise strategy proposes that fitness to practise cases could be resolved with agreed outcomes. The use of such a power might provide a speedy and cost-efficient way to deal with cases like Mr Rabadia’s.