Concern over pharmacy closures in Plymouth

Financial decision causing anguish for residents

The closure of six Boots pharmacies in Plymouth in the new year will put extra burden on an already overloaded system, it’s been claimed.

Health leaders are figuring out how to cope as many pharmacists jump ship to work at doctors’ surgeries meaning some pharmacies are then understaffed and struggling to meet prescription demands.

Boots announced last month that it would be closing 300 outlets countrywide, merging a number of stores in close proximity to each other.

In Plymouth they will be St Budeaux, Mannamead and Claremont in January and Cattedown and St Judes in March. A Boots Plympton pharmacy closed in November.

It follows cuts to the number of Lloyds pharmacies earlier this year and some wider reductions in opening hours.

Members of Plymouth City Council’s health and adult social care scrutiny committee were told pharmacies could no longer make profits on prescriptions alone.

But councillors said there were now queues outside pharmacies and missing prescriptions causing people to make second visits. Cllr Dr John Mahony (Con, Peverell) said most pharmacies were “pretty frantic” with not enough staff.

He said many pharmacists had joined GPs’ teams, as they could access funding to employ them. Pharmacies meanwhile were struggling to pay the “extortionate cost of locums.”

Councillors were told many patients were switching to online and postal providers for prescriptions.

A review will take place of weekend cover and the impact on areas of deprivation, and an assurance that vulnerable patients will be monitored during the transition.

Director of commissioning at NHS Devon Jo Turl said there was a positive relationship between community pharmacies and general practice and this was getting lost in the negativity surrounding the closures.

The community pharmacy sector was changing with pharmacists and technicians taking a more clinical role, councillors were told.

David Bearman, strategic lead for Community Pharmacy Devon, said a “vibrant” community pharmacy would be helped by the new Plymouth School of Pharmacy, part of Bath University, with the first intake of students next year.

He said changes in the training of pharmacists had resulted in more people coming into the industry.