Pharmacist reprimanded and disqualified from applying for registration for workplace theft

30 Aug 2018

A pharmacist who stole money and goods from his employer has been reprimanded by a tribunal and disqualified from applying for registration for six months.

Between 22 April 2015 and 16 July 2015, Junliang Gary Goh misappropriated money and goods to the value of $6,500 from a pharmacy in Fremantle, Western Australia, where he was employed on a part-time basis.

The theft was discovered by the pharmacy manager who, after a review of pharmacy stock levels, conducted an investigation into the reasons for stock deletions and adjustments recorded on the pharmacy’s software system. The investigation included reviewing CCTV footage and completing an audit.

Mr Goh’s explanation for the stock deletions and adjustments apparent in the pharmacy’s software system, was that he was conducting stock ‘spot checks’ and making adjustments accordingly. This was not usual practice at the pharmacy and Mr Goh had not been asked to carry out such checks.

The pharmacy manager’s investigation identified several instances where Mr Goh:

• dispensed medication to a customer and subsequently deleted the script from the pharmacy’s dispensing software
• sold over-the-counter medication and either processed a return of sale or did not process the sale in the cash register (an audit noted missing stock and some transactions viewed on CCTV could not be located in the pharmacy’s sales journal history), and
• took money from the pharmacy’s cash registers and change tin.

The pharmacy manager reported the theft to the Western Australian Police and notified the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Mr Goh’s employment at the pharmacy was terminated on the grounds of serious misconduct.

Mr Goh repaid the pharmacy $6,500 soon after the theft was discovered.

The Pharmacy Board of Australia (the Board) referred Mr Goh to the State Administrative Tribunal (WA) (the tribunal).

On 21 May 2018, following a mediated outcome, the tribunal ordered that Mr Goh:

• had behaved in a way that constituted professional misconduct under the National Law¹ and that he had breached the Board’s Code of conduct for pharmacists
• be reprimanded
• be disqualified from applying for registration as a health practitioner for six months, and
• pay $4,000 towards the Board’s costs.

Mr Goh was unregistered as at the date of the tribunal’s orders.

Read more about the tribunal’s decision on its website.

¹ The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory (the National Law).