Pharmacies

Now I am blogging I can't help but get on a small rant I'm afraid.

Pharmacies.

We've had, for so long, 3 pharmacies in town.

Coop and Chaplin Bennetts on fore street and Boots on the Market.

When we opened at Leatside Chaplin Bennetts came to join us then became something else, then Moss.

Status Quo for a few years.

Then Day Lewis bought the Boots shop, after Boots had bought out Moss and relocated to Leatside.

New status quo, coop, boots and day lewis.

Then Day Lewis wanted to move in with Morrison's.

Consent to move was declined by the PCT on the basis that they wanted to keep a pharmacy presence at the top of town.

After a while Day Lewis applied to relocate to Bridgetown.

Perhaps because the PCT thought that this expanded residential area might benefit from a pharmacy their request was accepted.

You'll note that in doing this the PCT had rescinded the requirement to have a pharmacy at the top of town.

Day Lewis then reapplied for the move to Morrison's.

This was declined but they won on appeal as clearly the top-of-town principle hadn't been stuck to.

So there we have it- Day Lewis got what they wanted and are moving in to Morrison's.

You probably know that Boots at he Surgery have only really a fairly small space, so we have been in discussion with boots for some time to see if we can offer them more space. (They get more space to work from; we get more rental income from them)  This may yet come to fruition as we submit plans to expand a bit on each end of our building. But what we then end up with is only the coop on the main street.

I suppose it may be ok, as the pattern of how people use the town and services evolves and changes over time, but I can't help but feel that it is to the detriment of the town as a whole.

Neither of the lower town sites is ideal. Leatside has a tight car park, but is easily on the path and cycle routes.

Morrison's has the big car park, but £2 to park, then to recoup it.

But then again, parking up the town costs now as well doesn't it.

More and more people are using the pharmacies' home-delivery services, and I think any feedback on how to use these more efficiently might be appreciated... perhaps using distribution/collection points like village shops or pubs?

Online pharmacies like pharmacy2u have been publicising direct by mail shots.

I have to say though that I don't like the idea of these. Pharmacists do fulfil a role in safely dispensing medication face to face and dealing with queries... what might decide which pharmacies do well in town in the end, I feel, is the quality of the pharmacists.