The pharmacist from whom Britain's most prolific serial killer Harold Shipman obtained the diamorphine with which he killed hundreds of his patients is to face a disciplinary hearing, it emerged today.
Ghislaine Brant, who managed the pharmacy next to Shipman's GP surgery in Hyde, Greater Manchester, will appear before a Royal Pharmaceutical Society statutory committee hearing later this month.
The inquiry into the Shipman murders heard that over six years the former family doctor had illicitly obtained 24,000mg of diamorphine, much of which was from Mrs Brant's pharmacy, yet no concerns were aroused.
The inquiry chairwoman, Dame Janet Smith, said that during this time Shipman killed at least 143 patients. She particularly criticised Mrs Brant for failing to query the unusually high number of diamorphine prescriptions Shipman obtained between February and August 1993.
Over that period, Mrs Brant dispensed 14 prescriptions to Shipman for 30mg ampoules of diamorphine in the names of patients who did not need it. In at least six cases, the patient was dead at the time the prescription was written. The 30mg dose was far too large for treating acute pain and too small to treat chronic pain in the terminally ill.
Dame Janet said Mrs Brant had "lost her professional objectivity" when dealing with the GP and had "plainly not applied her mind" when considering whether the dosage was appropriate for a patient.
Dame Janet said the pharmacist had been "charmed" by Shipman, who "flattered her", and she had regarded him as a friend. But she "fell below the standard of a competent, conscientious pharmacist".
Mrs Brant still works at the pharmacy, which is now run by Co-operative Healthcare. She could be struck off the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's register, which would mean she could no longer work as a pharmacist in this country.
The two-day hearing will begin at the society's headquarters in Lambeth, London, on February 21. Shipman, who hanged himself in his prison cell in January 2004, is estimated to have killed at least 250 patients in total.
