Supermarket Pharmacy Closures - Asda & Tesco

[helvella]

In addition to the closure of Lloyds pharmacies in Sainsbury stores, disposal or closure of numerous other non-supermarket Lloyds branches, and (denied) rumours of possible total close-down of all Lloyds pharmacies, the following supermarket pharmacy closures have been announced:

ASDA

• Southampton

• Seaham

• Feltham

• Blackburn

• Adel

• West Bradford

• Weston-Super-Mare

TESCO

• Long Eaton Extra

• Reading Extra

• Fareham

• Glastonbury

• Widnes Extra

• Bradford Peel Centre

• Blackburn

• Catterick Garrison

I do not have details of the expected calendar of closures for any of these.

If you are affected, I suggest you consider your options now and make the best plans you can.

Please keep replies to the factual aspects rather than whatever politics, finance, etc. lie behind these closures.

[JGBH]

This is most concerning. Why should this be happening ? Are they going to restrict our medication s?

[helvella in reply to JGBH]

I think it is almost entirely on the basis of profit/loss.

If they are loss-making, they will close. But there are so many difficulties and questions in how that is assessed. Like asking how much trade is brought into a store due to have a pharmacy? And assigning costs (parking, security, money-handling, electricity, heating, staff facilities, etc.) between pharmacies and the stores in which they exist.

And the change of ownership of Asda which has, I believe, seen quite a number of other changes.

[JGBH in reply to helvella]

I understand but it will make life more difficult for people who have little time and tend to get their medication from a supermarket while doing their weekly shopping..

This must mean we’ll only be able to get our medication from a pharmacy only… ?

[helvella in reply to JGBH]

When the supermarkets started opening pharmacies many years ago, that was allowed because they offered different (universally, longer) opening hours, including Sundays.

(There are, at least in England, restrictions on opening new pharmacies. There either has to be a need in terms of capacity/location or they must offer something different/extra. Longer hours was a widely used justification.)

Lots of people had major benefits as so many traditional pharmacies had restricted hours. (Often closed Saturday afternoons, Sundays and evenings.) Hence local newspapers used to list emergency pharmacies.

Looks like we'll be returning to some of those issues.

[DoeStewart in reply to helvella]

It is a ridiculous situation with supermarket pharmacies. When the Asda store local to me wanted to put a pharmacy inside their store there was a local independent pharmacy within a mile of the store. Asda had to buy out this pharmacy to enable one to open in store. They paid just under a million pounds for the independent pharmacy which obviously then closed down. With supermarket pharmacies closing in many stores and no new pharmacies opening this could be a really big problem for some folk in obtaining their medication? Maybe we are all going to be pushed into online pharmacies in future exactly the same as every other item we want to purchase - nothing in store- Go On Line !!.

[helvella in reply to DoeStewart]

Online pharmacies seem to have been doing their level best to put people off!

Delays. Wrong products. Lack of communication. Mis-deliveries. Breaches of privacy.

Adding that each pharmacy that closes means a place not available for anything else. Like a pack of anything with a status of "Pharmacy" medicine. Or an eye which needs to be seen before anything is offered.

[DoeStewart in reply to helvella]

Totally agree. In these times when we are being advised to go to the pharmacist for advice rather than the GP ( I do anyway) and more pharmacists are prescribing antibiotics for illnesses such as tonsillitis, giving flu jabs, doing blood pressure checks etc... they are more needed than ever. I know I would be lost without our local independent pharmacist, he is excellent, I don't have to make an appointment just turn up and wait till he's free. I didn't realise there were such problems with online pharmacies as I have never had to use one, long may that continue.

[helvella in reply to DoeStewart]

Online pharmacies, to be fair, are saving graces for some on liothyronine and/or desiccated thyroid and some other rare or difficult to acquire medicines.

But I think we were both thinking of the ones which purport to do the same as local pharmacies - then fail to deliver in many ways.

[DoeStewart in reply to helvella]

Yes thats exactly the type of online pharmacy I was thinking of. So many things seem to be up in the air at the moment, it's quite disconcerting for many people

[JGBH]

Thank you. My goodness, turning the clock back to decades ago…. What sort of world are we moving into?

[Star13]

it’s mostly established independents that still close at lunch time and half day Saturday etc, however I find they are the most helpful in getting medications that are preferred or out of stock. Newer pharmacies in my area are opening every day and until at least 10pm and seem to be competing for business especially as many have become Covid booster centres too.

I don’t think we are going backwards!

[Ellie-Louise]

Lloyds is still there in our Sainsbury’s store.

[helvella in reply to Ellie-Louise]

Other than after a catastrophic failure, such changes do usually take some considerable time.

But the announcement has been made that all branches located within Sainsbury stores will close this year.

C+D exclusively revealed in January that the multiple will withdraw its pharmacy services from all 237 Sainsbury’s stores over the course of this year.

It is as yet unclear whether each of these branches will close or be sold.

chemistanddruggist.co.uk/CD...

(Afraid I do not know if this link will work for those who are not signed in to C+D.)

[Ellie-Louise]

I could read it thank you. I did see that Kamsons are taking over some of Lloyds pharmacies.

That has already happened in the next village. But I don’t know if they would even consider taking over the pharmacy in Sainsbury’s because we already have a Kamsons very close to the Sainsbury’s store.

[helvella]

Just adding my own experience. I have recently changed from a Boots to a sold-off Lloyds which is now an independent.

As a branch of Lloyds, I was not impressed - but nor was I with Boots!

The new people seem to be trying.