Lloyds Pharmacy closes 190 stores, blaming government

[helvella]

Potentially important for many here.

I'd point out, though, that they have only recently (in 2015) taken over the Sainsbury pharmacies. We have to ask how many closures, redundancies, etc., are part of the rationalisation that almost inevitably follows takeovers?

(Despite the blaming of government by Lloyds, this post is absolutely not intended to go down that avenue. Rather to inform everyone that it is happening.)

Lloyds Pharmacy closes 190 stores, blaming government

Reduced funding, higher business rates and the apprenticeship levy created ‘challenging market conditions’

Lloyds Pharmacy has announced it will close nearly 200 stores across England because of changes in government policy, with its parent company also blaming funding cuts and the apprenticeship levy.

In an internal letter to staff Cormac Tobin, managing director at Lloyds Pharmacy’s owner, Celesio UK, [ and itself part of McKesson Europe AG ] said around 190 pharmacies will cease to trade through a combination of closures and disinvestments.

The leaked internal memo to staff, which was verified by a spokesman for Celesio UK, said the business has been hit by pharmacy funding cuts, as well as higher business rates and the apprenticeship levy, which had made “market conditions challenging”.

“Community pharmacy needs to adapt to the changing requirements of patients and the NHS, indeed it should be part of the solution to an overstretched health service,” Tobin said in the memo.

“To achieve this, we need a new operational framework that creates a thriving pharmacy network that continues to offer essential integrated healthcare and is rooted in local communities,” he continued.

More at this link:

theguardian.com/business/20...

27/10/2017 - added this:

Looks like the Sainsbury buy-out was bigger than the proposed closures - 281 against 190.

Celesio, the German drugs wholesaler that owns LloydsPharmacy in the UK, said that it would buy 281 pharmacies in total from the supermarket group.

telegraph.co.uk/finance/new...

What's the betting this will result in closures where a Lloyds is fairly close to a Sainsbury?

[shaws Administrator]

These closures will hit lots of people, the staff who will lose their livelihoods and patients who may have to go further to get their essential medications.

How long will it be before we see the NHS being overhauled?

[bluebug in reply to shaws]

The NHS has already been over hauled in England by this government with the creation of CCGs which replace primary heath trusts and with things like CCG panels reviewing GP referrals to hospitals .

[shaws Administrator in reply to bluebug]

In the near future will we have to hold Private Insurance but will we be able to get cover for existing problems and/or long term conditions?

[Treepie]

The location of pharmacies used to be controlled by Health Authorities when they existed.Not sure whether there are such controls now as our small town has three within walking distance of each other.

I suspect some of these closures will be replaced by entrepreneurial pharmacists setting up their own businesses.

Is this what Tobin means in thenlast two paras quoted? Difficult to interpret.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Treepie]

Treepie,

From memory, there was a get-out clause. Something like they were allowed to open new pharmacies so long as they had extended opening hours. (Don't we all remember the days when you couldn't get medicines on Saturday afternoon, early mornings, evenings, or any other time convenient to full-time workers? Sure, one pharmacy would be nominated as the late-opening one, but that was looked at as an emergency service.)

This allowed the supermarkets to wade in and open pharmacies - the premises were open anyway.

(The above might apply only in England - not at all sure.)

[nightingale-56]

There are four Pharmacies in our town and the two doing the most business are the two independent ones. Boots took over our local one and ruined it.