Wiltshire County Council has said it will hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss whether a market town that has only two pharmacies to serve a population of over 18,000 should have another pharmacy after the local MP raised concerns.

Andrew Murrison, the MP for South-West Wiltshire (pictured), said he wrote to Bath and North Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire integrated care board last month to tell them local residents were struggling to access timely pharmacy care after one of Warminster’s three pharmacies closed.

The closure of a Boots branch next to The Avenue GP surgery in October 2023 left the town with a Boots pharmacy in the Market Place and a Well pharmacy in the Cornmarket.

Murrison said long waiting times had left patients “disgruntled” and revealed the ICB told him Pharmacy First “may have caused pressure on traditional prescription work.”

A Boots spokesperson told the Wiltshire Times: “Customers to the Boots store at Market Place in Warminster have been experiencing longer than usual wait times for prescriptions due to staggered opening times of nearby pharmacies. 

"Our teams are working hard to minimise disruption and provide support to both new and regular patients. We thank customers for bearing with us and being kind to our team members during this time.” According to the Wiltshire Times, Well Pharmacy issued an apology.

Murrison revealed the ICB’s chief of staff Richard Collinge told him Wiltshire County Council’s health and wellbeing board needed to decide if its “pharmaceutical needs assessment needs updating to facilitate another pharmacy.”

Murrison, who said that “in the meantime, there's apparently nothing to stop a chemist applying to set up a new pharmacy in Warminster,” insisted the response he got from the ICB was “positive”.

However, he added: “I have written back to urge a speedy resolution. I welcome chemists doing more to deliver preventive health services like blood pressure checks and simple treatments but that implies more premises, not fewer.”

Wiltshire County Council told Independent Community Pharmacist its health and wellbeing board will meet tomorrow (May 23) to discuss, among other issues, the potential for a third pharmacy in Warminster. The council, however, did not say if it had received any applications.

A council spokesperson told ICP: “We have a meeting this coming Thursday where a there is a question relating specifically (to these points).”

Picture: www.parliament.uk