Devon MP says pharmacy staff ‘begging for pay’

Devon MP Richard Foord has highlighted the plight of pharmacy staff in his constituency who claim they have had to resort to “begging for pay”.

The Jhoots Pharmacy chain is facing national scrutiny amid reports of branches suddenly closing or falling to operate at scheduled hours, low stocks of medication, and staff issues related to pay.
Mr Foord said he had been written to by a constituent – a former member of staff at Jhoots who lives in Sidmouth – outlining that staff had emailed the firm to request wages.
Jhoots has not responded to requests for comment.
“Holly Froggatt has written to me as a former member of staff from Jhoots, and she writes that staff have been begging for their wages as they have empty bank accounts,” Mr Foord told the House of Commons.
Mr Foord, whose comments came amid an urgent question session in Parliament, secured by his Liberal Democrat colleague, Edward Morello MP (West Dorset),  added that the government often liked to “lean on pharmacies to take pressure off GPs”, naming schemes such as  Pharmacy First.
“So how can ministers wash their hands of this situation when staff have gone three months without pay?”
Steven Kinnock MP, the care minister, said that because staff were employed by a private company, such disputes needed to be pursued either with unions or the dispute resolution service, ACAS.
But he stressed the government was taking all the action it could.
“The regulatory framework is not as strong as it should be, but we have not seen anything like this before,” he said.
“It is shining light on the fact we don’t have a strong enough regulatory framework and we should look at how business owners are regulated, as they are not being regulated as strongly as they could or should be.”
Mr Kinnock noted that integrated care boards, which are NHS organisations, were taking steps to address the apparent issues at some Jhoots pharmacies, with some steps potentially including breach notices.
These relate to when a pharmacy is not carrying out the obligations it has agreed to in its contract with the NHS.
If repeated breaches are found, pharmacies can be removed from the pharmaceutical list, although this can be a lengthy process, partly because of the ability for pharmacy businesses to appeal.
Mr Kinnock added the General Pharmaceutical Council was also involved and taking action.
The debate came after Mr Foord had already written to Mr Kinnock asking whether he could initiate an urgent investigation into the company.
The most recent financial accounts posted on Companies House for the year to 31 December 2023 show the company suffered a more than £5 million pre-tax loss in that period, however, director Sarbjit Singh Jhooty states in the document that this was caused by acquisitions of new businesses.
It adds that more recent data showed it had returned to profitability.
In high streets where Jhoots Pharmacy stores are experiencing difficulties, this is loading further pressure on other pharmacies in those towns and cities, with long queues witnessed in some locations.
Councillor Steve Lodge (Liberal Democrat, Tiverton West), said the ability for residents to collect their prescriptions had hit “something of a crisis point” in his town.
“Not so long ago there were five pharmacies able to dispense,” he said.
“Today we find ourselves with one operating fully, and a new name that has taken over sites previously operated by Superdrug and Lloyds.
“But Jhoots is operating solely from Market Walk and is rarely open and able to dispense, and across the country it is clear that they are unable to fulfil their obligations; they have overstretched, and it appears they do not have enough pharmacists.”
Cllr Lodge added that Lib Dem MP Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) has met with the NHS Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) on the matter.
And a Tiverton town councillor, Beckett Fish, said on Facebook his wife waited an hour for a prescription which ended up not being available in spite of a text message saying it was, and that somebody behind her in the queue “fainted and then needed an ambulance”.
When contacted for comment, Jhoots Pharmacy forwarded email addresses for Sarbjit Singh Jhooty and Nilam Patel.
Mr Jhooty’s automatic response stated he would reply to emails at the weekend due to working as a pharmacist in-store, while Mr Patel’s mailbox was “currently out of use”.
Mr Jhooty recently told the BBC there had been issues at his pharmacies, and blamed “workforce and recruitment challenges”. But he did not comment to the BBC on allegations relating to staff not being paid.
Some Jhoots branches – more than 20 – are owned by Manjit Jhooty, who has told the BBC his branches remain “fully functional and continue to deliver services to the communities they serve”.