Town with no pharmacy is 'dreadful' for elderly

Local resident Vivian Wheeler questioned how elderly people got their prescriptions

Residents say it is "total rubbish" that their town is well served by pharmacies, after the closure of their only local branch left 40,000 people without easy access.

Jhoots, based in Rainham Shopping Precinct in Kent, shut in August following months of disruption. Locals say the empty unit now blocks new providers from opening.

Vivian Wheeler, 80, said: "We had three pharmacies here, and now we haven't got any. There's so many older people here. How do they ever get their prescriptions? It's dreadful."

NHS Kent and Medway said it was following national regulations and guidance, and pointed to six alternative pharmacies within a 2-mile (3.2km) radius.

More than 150 Jhoots stores operate nationally.

The franchise is under scrutiny and faces the threat of being struck off as an NHS provider due to failures around opening hours and allegations of unpaid staff.

Earlier in October, Medway councillors questioned members of the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) - which plans and buys local healthcare - about the issues first raised more than six months ago.

Dan McDonald, chair of Medway Council's health committee, also raised concerns over a local pharmaceutical needs assessment which suggested the town was well-served.

He said: "Jhoots sits there like a ghost. I don't see what the big brick wall is that means you wouldn't even entertain someone else coming in and doing a better job."

Local resident Andy Burke said Rainham Shopping Precinct needed at least one pharmacy

When the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked shoppers at the precinct if the area was well served, many laughed.

Ms Wheeler said that was "total rubbish".

Marilyn Hill, 70, said: "Jhoots have been a nightmare from the beginning. Older people, especially people that don't drive, are restricted.

"It's our age group that's suffering through not having a pharmacy in Rainham. I'm capable of getting from A to B, but other people aren't."

Andy Burke, 39, said the centre needed at least one pharmacy.

"We moved here about three years ago. There were three pharmacies here, now there's half of one," he said.

"I'm not going to smack talk the company or the workers, but it's been up and down now for a long time, and it's not good for the community."

Ms Burke said he needed to drive to a supermarket pharmacy instead and had faced a 45-minute wait at 20:00.

Jhoots Pharmacy in Rainham stopped dispensing medicines in August

The council committee's own questions were put to NHS Kent and Medway's ICB director of primary and community care Sukh Singh and its chief strategy and partnerships officer Ed Waller.

Mr Singh said: "It's not a case of we've only just started doing something now, we've been working through what we need to do over the last so many months as well.

"We have to go through the process of dispute resolution, seeing what we can do to remedy the situation, before we can actually looking at how we can issue a contractual breach."

Mr Waller added: "It's not in our interests for the population to be poorly served by the pharmacy service, it's incredibly important people get their medicines, all sorts of things result if they don't."

The chief strategy and partnerships officer said NHS Kent and Medway was following its processes, but understood local frustrations.

The committee agreed to write to the government, with the ICB's support, to change regulations to take the quality of service provided into consideration.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was giving the sector £500m and was expanding the role of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to make better use of their skills.

"Where pharmacies fall below expected standards the General Pharmaceutical Council and integrated care bodies will take action," the department added.

Jhoots has been contacted for a comment.