Key Summary
- Between October 2019 and August 2022, Abbas Samnani prescribed or approved prescriptions of high-risk medicines without proper monitoring.
- Samnani routinely relied on online questionnaires without accessing GP records or conducting consultations.
- The committee found Samnani "knew or should have known" about the previous order history when he approved 100 codeine tablets for a patient with a history of opioid dependence.
An independent prescriber has been suspended for 12 months by the GPhC’s fitness to practise committee for dispensing prescriptions without proper oversight and other unsafe practices.
Samnani prescribed for UK Meds on 70,618 occasions, 4,876 of which involved medicines classed as high-risk or requiring ongoing monitoring.
Abbas Samnani worked at UK Meds from October 2019 to August 2022. During this period, the business was subject to repeated GPhC inspections. In November 2019, the company was barred from supplying Schedule 1-5 controlled drugs and modafinil.
In October 2019, Samnani signed off on a prescription for 100 codeine (an opioid) tablets to a patient who had previously placed orders for the drug with UK Meds, which was not checked by him.
While being questioned, Samnani denied having had sight of the patient’s previous orders when approving the prescription. However, the FtP committee found it was more probable than not that the order history would have appeared on the patient’s profile.
Samnani admitted to having failed to obtain adequate information in relation to patients’ health in advance of prescribing, relying principally on the information received in an online questionnaire.
He also admitted that he had failed to access patients’ general practitioner medical records or specialist clinical records in order to have a full picture of their health and prescription history.
Samnani was found to have participated in the company’s unsafe practices, with the FtP committee commenting that when he joined in 2019 he was “qualified, experienced and competent” and that upon taking up the more senior role of CL he was “fully capable of recognising and addressing shortcomings” within UK Meds’ operating procedures.
According to the committee, he was involved in “repeated and widespread failures” and not one-off lapses of judgment. Additionally, there was a “particular severity” in the potential risks posed by his actions in signing off on “thousands of prescriptions for high-risk medications”.
The GPhC also noted Samnani’s “impressive” remediation efforts, which have included developing his practice in relation to opioids. They also mentioned evidence of his “recent good work” in the form of testimonials provided by his current employer.
The committee imposed a 12-month suspension order but allowed him to keep practising during the 28-day appeal period as in his current work he poses no threat to his patients.
This is Samnani’s second suspension order, having been found in 2022 to have falsified his timesheets while working for an NHS employer between November 2018 and August 2019.
