A St Austell councillor has labelled current pharmacy access within the town as ‘unacceptable’ - and demanded that the situation be looked at before the problem escalates further.
Cllr Jeremy Preece has seen first-hand the issues and concerns being faced by local residents, who have reported queuing for up to an hour waiting to be served, then medicines being unavailable once people do reach the front of the line.
As part of his plan to tackle the issue, Cllr Preece - who has the backing of St Austell and Newquay MP, Noah Law - has launched a new online community petition.
The initiative comes in response to growing concerns locally where residents have not only reported difficulties accessing essential prescription services and medical advice, but that they have also seen two applications to build new pharmacies in the town turned down by the South West Pharmaceutical Services Regulations Committee (PSRC).
The first application, by Arompi UK Limited, was to open a new pharmacy in the Slades Road/Carlyon Road area - the former site of a Boots pharmacy, which closed around a year ago, while the second from Banns Pharmacy Ltd was to open a new pharmacy in the Carclaze area of the town.
In the case of the first application, PSRC said the company had not “adequately identified a current need” for a pharmacy, whilst in the second application, they noted “granting (it) would not confer a significant benefit by way of access to, or choice of, pharmaceutical services.”
“These decisions seem very out of step with the experiences and needs of local people,” said Cllr Preece. “When collecting prescriptions for other people, time and time again, I’ve experienced having to queue to even get into the stores. Even after you’ve waited to be seen, you then have to wait several more minutes for staff to find the prescription - it’s chaos.
“As it stands, people from all walks of life are having to take significant time out from their days, their jobs, and face considerable stress just to manage prescriptions. That is not acceptable.”
Currently, St Austell has four existing facilities around the town at ASDA supermarket, Boots in the town centre, plus the Day Lewis branches at Wheal Northey Surgery and Victoria Place.
That is, however, not enough according to Mr Law, who added: “I’ve received a large amount of correspondence from constituents who are struggling with ordering and collecting pharmaceutical items. This is why we should never be blindsided into just ‘working from criteria’. If public feedback isn’t reflected in decisions, maybe we’re asking the wrong questions. This is for patients, after all.
“Since October last year, St Austell Town Council and I have supported applications for new pharmacies. When an application for a pharmacy is refused, it is sometimes not possible to make a new application within five years save in the case of an ‘exceptional’ change.
“This Government has set out plans to build 1.5 million homes across the UK to tackle the housing crisis - and I hear loud and clear my constituents’ concerns about a lack of supporting infrastructure. Surely it would be sensible to work proactively - addressing not only the current challenges, but also securing provision for the long term.
“Everyone recognises that pharmacy staff are working flat out to cope. Maybe the best response is to give local people what they want - because patients are often right, as well as customers.”
Locals can access the online petition by clicking here