Patient given Class C drug he was not prescribed

A man with epilepsy said he felt "let down" by a pharmacy that incorrectly gave him a Class C drug he had not been prescribed.

Dennis Moore, 67, said he fell unwell soon after taking pregabalin given to him by a branch of Allied Pharmacies in Jaywick, Essex.

A photo seen by the BBC showed a pharmacy sticker for gabapentin – a different controlled drug Mr Moore takes three times a day to manage his condition – attached to a box of pregabalin, which Mr Moore had not taken before.

The pharmacy apologised and said it had taken action to ensure its systems were robust.

Pregabalin is used to treat epilepsy and other conditions such as nerve pain and anxiety on the NHS.

It became a Class C drug in 2019 and it is illegal to possess it without a valid prescription.

Mr Moore's wife, Karen, recalled: "He took one and then he just crashed out for three hours. When he woke up, he was seeing double, he couldn't walk straight and was holding on to everything."

After noticing the discrepancy, Mrs Moore, 62, called the NHS 111 service which suggested taking her husband to hospital, but she said he wanted to "ride it out".

"I started panicking and thinking how on earth I could get him some gabapentin… because he has to take it three times a day and I didn't have any here. I only had the incorrect medication here."

Mr Moore said: "I feel rather let down, to be totally honest.

"They've literally got your life in their hands. I'd hate to hear of anyone else going through this… it really, really made me ill."

A spokesperson for Allied Pharmacies said: "We are very sorry for the distress experienced by Mr Moore and reassured that he suffered no lasting harm.

"Over a billion prescriptions are issued nationally every year and Royal Pharmaceutical Society best practice demands that pharmacies log and address the very small proportion of errors made in the provision of medicine.

"Our Jaywick branch took immediate steps to determine what happened and has already acted to ensure that its systems are robust."

The NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board encouraged Mr Moore to discuss what happened with his local patient advice and liaison service.

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