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A locum pharmacist who worked at a Tesco Pharmacy branch between 2020 and 2023 has received an eight-month suspension order after a hearing found he repeatedly failed to respect colleagues’ physical boundaries and made inappropriate comments, including propositioning a female colleague on whom he was described as having a “schoolboy crush”. 

The pharmacist was the subject of a fitness to practise hearing that took place over dates in November last year and concluded on January 6. He admitted to most of the allegations against him, including that he “repeatedly entered the personal space of female colleagues and made inappropriate remarks relating to his sex life”.

With regard to invading colleagues’ physical space, the pharmacist “had been provided with many warnings and had not heeded these” the FtP committee found. 

The pharmacy manager was aware of complaints about the pharmacist’s failure to respect his colleagues’ physical boundaries, and to address this “placed sticky tape on the floor of the pharmacy marking a line that the registrant should not cross in order to maintain proper boundaries”. 

In the case of one colleague referred to as Colleague A, the pharmacist developed a fixation described by another colleague as a “schoolboy crush” and made inappropriate comments about her physical appearance that made her uncomfortable and were backed up by statements from other colleagues. 

The pattern of behaviour towards this colleague escalated to inviting her out to dinner, grabbing her “tightly around her waist” on one occasion and on June 24, 2023, 

The report of the FtP hearing states that the pharmacist “stated that he believed engaging in ‘unattached sex’ with another person would help resolve his marital problems and proceeded to ask Colleague A if she would be willing to have sex with him”. 

“Colleague A was upset by this proposition, describing her reaction as feeling ‘sick… dirty… like a piece of meat’ and subsequently she made a formal complaint.”

The FtP committee found that the pharmacist had abused his position of authority and “failed in an appalling fashion to maintain proper standards of behaviour with his team members” in what was described as a “shocking abuse of trust”. 

He expressed remorse for his actions and told the committee he has undertaken counselling and other forms of treatment to address his conduct and prevent a future recurrence. 

Noting his sincere commitment to preventing a recurrence and thereby harming his relationship with his wife – described as providing “steadfast and dignified support” to him during the hearing – the FtP committee found that it was “highly unlikely” his misconduct will be repeated in future and that the risk of repetition “has been reduced to an acceptably low level”.  

The committee imposed an eight-month suspension order, commenting that removing him from the register would be disproportionate in light of his “exceptional steps towards self-awareness and remediation”. 

Tesco has been approached for comment.