Worried pharmacists and local residents presented Daniel Zeichner MP with a petition against cuts to local pharmacies.

Daniel Zeichner MP met pharmacist Mr Singh who has worked at the pharmacy for 25 years. Mr Singh warned that the axe is hovering over local services after 6% Government funding cuts. 

There has been a pharmacy on Hills Road for over eighty years but according to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee between 1,000 and 3,000 pharmacies – as many as one in four – face closure as a result of government cuts.

Even a government minister has admitted that independent pharmacies will be ‘squeezed’. 

Daniel Zeichner MP said: “The Government is conducting a dangerous experiment which will see pharmacies close, reducing people’s access to medicines and healthcare advice, and putting extra pressure on GPs and hospitals at the worst possible time.

Your local pharmacy is more than just a place to get medicines – trained pharmacists provide vital advice taking the pressure off other NHS services. This plan will wrench the heart out of the sector.

The Government should pause and reflect, and not rush to implement policies that may have irreversible consequences for local communities.”