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A pharmacist who was suspended by the General Pharmaceutical Council earlier this year after taking Ozempic from the pharmacy where she worked and self-medicating with diazepam without a prescription or payment has been allowed to return to work.

A fitness-to-practise committee handed Marie Clair Boardman a six-month suspension in January after she admitted removing Ozempic from the branch of Pickfords in Doncaster where she worked, as well as diazepam from its stock for her personal use in May 2023.

She admitted self-medicating with diazepam during working hours and taking it while on the pharmacy’s premises on at least one occasion.

Admitted working in the pharmacy ‘while unfit’

She also admitted working in the pharmacy “while unfit” and “unable adequately to concentrate or communicate with colleagues” and knowing her actions in taking the medicines were “dishonest”.

The Committee hearing last month heard Boardman put “some Ozempic medication into a bag with some paperwork” on May 17, 2023 and two days later, took a box of diazepam 5mg tablets from the pharmacy’s shelf and put it in her pocket, before consuming one of its tablets.

According to a report on the hearing, her colleagues described her as “volatile…has mood swings” and said she was “slurring her words” and “shakes and then is exhausted”.

Boardman was also said to have thrown a medication bag at a colleague and shouted at her on May 19, 2023. She was sacked by the pharmacy on June 8, 2023.

In evidence she gave during the first hearing, Boardman provided details of her medical history “and the personal challenges she had been experiencing” at the time of the incidents.

The Committee concluded she “had been under immense personal and professional pressure during that week in May 2023” and that “impacted on her health and her ability to work”.

Pressure she was under at work and at home

“It had also impacted on her making poor judgements at work while under stress,” the Committee said, concluding that the incident on May 17 was caused by a “lapse of judgement” on her part “due to the pressure she was under at work and at home alongside managing her health condition”.

The Committee also concluded the incident on May 19 was “directly linked to her health condition as she had removed and consumed one diazepam tablet in a moment of emergency”.

Boardman told the initial hearing about the steps she had taken to address her health and personal issues and insisted she would work as a locum in future, ensuring she worked fewer hours and took time off “if she found herself in a similar situation again”.

During last month’s hearing, the Committee said it accepted her evidence and described her as “a credible witness”.

“The Registrant clearly had some understanding of her health issues and the possible impact on her ability to work as a pharmacist but she did not address her stress and stop working when she should have done,” it said.

The Committee said she “did not have deep-seated attitudinal issues which could not be addressed” and had “acted with dishonesty and a lack of integrity in highly unusual circumstances”. It was satisfied Boardman was “unlikely” to take medication dishonestly again “as long as she had her health condition under control”.

Mourned the loss of her work as a pharmacist

“(She) wanted the opportunity to return to work as a pharmacist. It was a role she was extremely proud of and a part of her identity,” the report said, acknowledging her misconduct was a result of “being unwell and under severe stress”.

“She stated she had ‘mourned the loss of it’ for the last couple of years. She stated she was committed to maintaining her health and the standards expected of a pharmacist,” the report added.

“She stated she loved her job as a pharmacist which she had missed very much and she would like the honour of practising it again. She said ‘I guarantee I will never let myself get into that position again’”.

Boardman’s suspension expires on August 16 after which she will be able to practise again.