WARNING: This story has details of the death of an infant
An intern pharmacist has been suspended by the Pharmacy Council after the death of a 2-month-old baby who was allegedly given medication at an adult dosage.
RNZ earlier revealed BellamereArwyn Duncan died at Starship children’s hospital on July 19. The 2-month-old was allegedly given an adult dosage of phosphate by a Manawatū pharmacy. A coroner’s preliminary opinion is she died from phosphate toxicity.
The revelations have prompted the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand to “urgently” undertake a joint review into the incident, with Medsafe visiting the pharmacy to ensure it was safe to continue operating.
The Pharmacy Council register lists the pharmacist’s scope of practice as an intern.
The council’s website said an intern pharmacist, under the supervision of a practising registered pharmacist, “acts as a medicines manager, providing patient-centred medication therapy management, health improvement and disease prevention services in a collaborative environment”.
Bellamere Duncan's parents were allegedly given an adult dosage of phosphate by the pharmacy. Photo / Supplied
“Intern pharmacists ensure safe and quality use of medicines and optimise health outcomes by contributing to patient assessment and to the selection, prescribing, monitoring and evaluation of medicine therapy.”
In a statement to RNZ, council chief executive Michael Pead said whenever it received a notification of an incident, it began an “initial inquiry” to assess the situation.
“At the start of any inquiry, our focus is on ensuring there is no further risk to public safety. There are many ways to achieve this, including suspension of the pharmacist or pharmacists involved or a voluntary agreement that the individual/s will stop working.”
To ensure the inquiry into Bellamere’s death was “fair and thorough”, and to avoid pre-empting any findings, the council could not provide any further details.
“We can confirm that the Pharmacy Council is comfortable that immediate steps have been taken to prevent the risk of further harm while the inquiry is ongoing.”
The owner of the Manawatū pharmacy that dispensed the medication earlier said in a statement to RNZ the baby’s death was “a tragedy”.
“Our sympathy is with the family and whānau. This is a very difficult time.
“We are looking into what has happened to try to understand how this took place. There will also be external reviews, which we will work with.”
RNZ asked the owner how the medication was given at the wrong dosage, whether they disputed the allegations, when the pharmacy became aware the wrong dosage had been given, and what confidence people could have about other medication received from the pharmacy.
The owner said the pharmacy was “devastated about what has happened and are investigating to find out how this occurred”.
Bellamere Duncan was rushed to Starship children's hospital after an overdose. Photo / RNZ
“It is not appropriate to comment further at this stage.”
On Thursday, a council spokesperson said it was looking into “what went wrong, how it went wrong, and who was involved”.
“At the end of the process, we will make any recommended changes to ensure as best as possible an event like this does not happen again.”
