Pharmacy Board of New South Wales

Disciplinary hearings are convened as required, rather than on any predetermined basis. A disciplinary decision follows a formal investigation and inquiry into a complaint against a registered pharmacist. The complainant in each case is either the Health Care Complaints Commissioner or the Registrar of the Board, who may act as nominal complainant. In each disciplinary case the Board is required to give detailed reasons for its decision. Consequently, Board determinations are generally reserved and are not handed down at the conclusion of the hearing.

Most of the decisions in this database relate to a Board of Inquiry rather than a Professional Standards Committee hearing. In theory, a Professional Standards Committee was intended to hear complaints of a minor nature. In practice, there is no distinction between the two types of hearing, as the Pharmacy Act 1964, unlike other health registration legislation, does not provide for a less serious complaint of 'unsatisfactory professional conduct'. Thus most of the decisions reported on the database refer to complaints of professional misconduct.

Once the disciplinary decision has been served on the pharmacist it will be published on this data base within 2 months of such notification. This time frame allows for any exercise of the pharmacist's statutory right to appeal to the District Court against the Board's findings and/or orders.

The headnotes indicate whether there was a subsequent appeal against the findings or orders made by the Board, and there is a direct link to all appeal judgments in the New South Wales District and Supreme Courts. For the sake of brevity, the decisions in this database have been edited to exclude lengthy exhibit lists and other duplicated material. The full text of any of the Board decisions is available by contacting the Pharmacy Board of NSW on telephone (02) 9281 7736.