Rachel Gilmour MP presses for meeting with Minister to discuss Tiverton pharmacy concerns

In a letter sent to Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock MP, Mrs Gilmour highlighted that the Jhoots pharmacy in the town “cannot be relied upon to be open regularly”, leading to “queues around the block at the Boots in Tiverton, which is having to pick up the slack”.

During the summer, Mrs Gilmour met with the Devon NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB), where she raised her concerns about the Jhoots premises in Tiverton. However, due to regulations around pharmacy contracts, and concerned that a pharmacy successfully challenged their contract removal, Rachel Gilmour described the ICB as “having their hands tied”. 

Mrs Gilmour has asked the Minister of State for a meeting to discuss what additional support can be offered to Devon ICB, as well as other ICBs across the country, to tackle the national issues at Jhoots’ pharmacies. 

After sending the letter to the Minister, Mrs Gilmour said:

“The state of pharmacies in Tiverton is extremely concerning, as I have heard of cases where constituents have faced delays in receiving life-improving, and even life-saving medication.

The team at the Devon NHS ICB are trying their best to improve pharmacy services but currently don’t have the adequate powers to force Jhoots to improve.

I look forward to hearing from the Minister and his team so we can take steps to improve the state of pharmacies for constituents in and around Tiverton.”