A PSYCHIATRIST was issued with a warning after he used prescription forms from his old work place to give drugs to people who were not his patients.

Dr Abiodun Jackson Agara went before the General Medical Council in Manchester last week after he used forms from his old employer, mental health trust Five Boroughs Partnership, which provides services in Warrington.

The fitness to practise panel heard how he wrote out prescriptions for drugs that treat diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure in his wife’s name but gave them to two other people.

Dr Agara worked at the trust between April and November 2006 but when his contract ended he retained his pad.

In July 2008 Dr Agara wrote out and paid for a prescription that one patient was unable to afford.

In another instance he prescribed drugs to an elderly man who came from his native Nigeria and attended the same church as his wife.

In a letter to the council Dr Agara said he acted in good faith and had no intention of defrauding the NHS. He explained that in Nigeria it was normal for a doctor to prescribe for anyone needing medical help.

Witness Dr Ian Isaac said that the prescribed drugs were standard medication for diabetes and heart failure but added that Dr Agara’s standard of care fell below a minimum standard.

Panel chairman Dr Alan Montgomery said: “The medications you prescribed were not drugs of addiction and you made no monetary gain from writing the prescriptions.

“You have realised that you should not have acted as you did and you are fully aware of why you should not have acted in such a way.

“The panel has determined that your fitness to practise is not currently impaired by reason of your misconduct.”

Dr Agara was handed a warning that will stay on his records for the next five years.