In Profession news

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

A pharmacist who was convicted of a drink-driving offence in 2022 and who left a locum shift in 2024 after team members assessed her as being under the influence of alcohol has been suspended for nine months by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

Emma Juggins was convicted in August 2022 at Worcester Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to a driving offence that took place the previous month. A reading of 121 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath suggested she was almost three and a half times over the legal limit.

Ms Juggins was disqualified from driving for 30 months, reduced by 30 weeks after she completed a drink-drive rehabilitation course, and was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge and prosecution costs. She referred herself to the regulator after receiving her conviction.

The second allegation considered by the FtP committee related to Ms Juggins’ conduct while fulfilling a locum shift as responsible pharmacist at a Boots branch on High Street in Cheltenham on August 24, 2024.

Concerns were raised by staff around her fitness to work after she was perceived to be under the influence of alcohol, with team members claiming that her speech was slurred and she was swaying with her eyes closed. She was taken to the consultation room for a conversation, after which she left the premises.

An assistant manager at the store told the FtP committee that staff asked him to come to the pharmacy as they were concerned about Ms Juggins’ presentation, and that he quickly saw that “something was not quite right”.

Upon speaking to her, he found that her demeanour was markedly different compared with previous days when they had worked together and were able to engage in positive communication.

He said he spoke with team members to include their observations in an internal report. He also said that his viewing of CCTV footage of Ms Juggins leaving the store reinforced his impression that she was under the influence of alcohol. The CCTV footage was deleted after 30 days and was not available to the FtP committee as evidence.

In her evidence, Ms Juggins accepted she had drunk alcohol until around midnight the previous night after a demanding day working at the same pharmacy, which she described as understaffed, but said that when she arrived there on August 24 she was simply tired rather than being under the influence of alcohol. She denied having been unfit to work.

She queried allegations that she had shown up to work “dishevelled” and wearing flip-flops, commenting that she had worn Birkenstock sandals and had not had a chance to change her footwear due to the difficulties in reaching the store on a bank holiday Sunday.

Ms Juggins also told the committee she was surprised there was no CCTV footage available and that other staff members present that day were not called to give evidence at the FtP hearing.

The FtP committee found that while there were gaps in the assistant manager’s awareness of how to handle allegations of this nature, he was “broadly a credible witness”.

The committee found it “more likely than not” that his assessment of Ms Juggins’ presentation that day was accurate. It concluded she was likely under the influence of alcohol on August 24 but found the evidence did not point to her having drunk that morning.

The FtP committee found she had demonstrated limited insight into her misconduct and that there was a risk of it being repeated. It imposed a nine-month suspension order and told her to present evidence of insight in the form of a reflective statement at her review hearing.

Related: Pharmacist who consumed alcohol and dumped medicines in public park suspended

Pharmacist who stole and consumed medicines from his employer suspended