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A pharmacist who used the ordering system at the pharmacy where he worked to obtain supplies of a controlled drug for his personal use without a valid prescription or permission to do so has been suspended for six months. 

Matthew Howard Gow ordered nine supplies of 56 tablets of dihydrocodeine 90mg from a wholesaler between June and September 2024 while working as the responsible pharmacist (RP) at Newport Pharmacy in Pembrokeshire.

A General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) fitness-to-practise committee hearing this week found he continued to work as the RP in the pharmacy despite knowing he was addicted to opiate medicines. He failed to declare his addiction to its superintendent pharmacist or the GPhC.

The committee heard two dispensers at Newport Pharmacy “independently witnessed incidents involving Gow’s conduct” in relation to DHC Continus 90mg (schedule 5) tablets “which gave them cause for concern”.

One of the dispensers said Gow did not print out an invoice when a stock order was received, which was normally done to allow the dispenser to check the stock received against the stock that was delivered.

“In her view, (Gow) had ignored standard operating procedures and deliberately got himself involved with the unpacking of the stock,” the committee said in its report.

“Mr Gow glossed over her enquiry about whether he had printed off the invoice for the incoming order of DHC Continus 90mg, stating that it wasn’t needed. He added ‘I’ll sort that out.’”

The committee heard the other dispenser “witnessed Mr Gow’s unusual behaviour with DHC Continus 90mg on two occasions”, first when he “involved himself in the unpacking of the order on both occasions”, then when he “put one pack aside on a shelf where stock was never allocated and he did not transfer it straight into the normal allocated space within the dispensary”.

“(The second dispenser) then noticed that when the second box came in a week after the first of the two boxes, and she went to place them both at the allocated place in the dispensary, the first box had disappeared,” the committee noted.

The dispensers told the pharmacy’s superintendent they were concerned that DHC Continus 90mg was regularly being ordered even though no patients required it. The superintendent discovered Newport Pharmacy had not ordered DHC Continus 90mg tablets for a patient since 2023 after looking at the PMR system.

Ten packs were ordered at a rate of one box every two weeks since Gow started working at the pharmacy in June 2024. The superintendent met Gow to discuss the allegations and showed him a spreadsheet with all the orders that had been made for DHC Continus 90mg, including their dates of order and cost.

The committee heard Gow told the superintendent he had paid for the medication but did not support that with any evidence and admitted he manipulated the PMR system “to ensure there was always a box of DHC Continus 90mg at the pharmacy”.

Gow was sacked by the pharmacy on September 11, 2024 for “gross misconduct in relation to theft and dishonesty of controlled drugs”.

The hearing was told he showed remorse and apologised. After his dismissal, Gow was unemployed for three months during which time he focused “on getting his health back” before starting a job in quarry management with Cymru Quarry Group in March 2025. 

The committee noted that although he maintained his CPD profile, he “did not read up on updates and if he did return to pharmacy, he would need work to get up to standard”.

The committee found his fitness-to-practise was “impaired on public interest grounds” but not “as a result of his health” and concluded he was guilty of misconduct.

It found he breached four standards covering professional judgement, behaving in a professional manner, speaking up when concerns arise or when things go wrong and demonstrating leadership.

The committee concluded Gow’s “misappropriation of medication and dishonesty and continuing to work” were “very serious matters”, although it noted “there was no actual harm to patients”.

Handing down the six-month suspension, the committee said there was “a low risk of repetition of the misconduct including the dishonesty”.