Chemist gave morphine over counter

A pharmacist who repeat-edly dispensed powerful drugs to customers without prescription was the first to be found guilty of professional misconduct and placed under restricted practice by the watchdog for the profession.

As the pharmacy regulator begins to show its teeth, it has emerged it is receiving a complaint a week about the standards, professionalism, and behaviour of pharmacists.

Three years into its existence, the regulator already has a backlog of cases to be heard by committees of inquiry and that is despite the majority of complaints being deemed after preliminary examination not to warrant a full hearing.