THE PROPOSAL FOR A PHARMACY ON SITE AT WELLBROOK MEDICAL CENTRE
You may have seen the planning application for a pharmacy on site at the Medical Centre. We write to explain our reasons for this and hopefully to address any concerns.
The application is made by Hilton Property Partnership. This is distinct from the Doctors currently in practice (the Medical Partnership) and consists of Doctors Williams Newton Vickers and Smith, the doctors in practice in 2001/2002 when the Medical Centre was built and who remain responsible for financing it. However, they will work closely with the Medical Partnership and will be responsible for the practicalities of the project.
Hilton Pharmacy was required to leave Tesco in November 2009 and due to this four people lost their jobs. The Primary Care Trust allowed them to suspend the licence for 6 months by the end of which a facility had to be in place, approved by the PCT and Pharmacy Inspectorate or the licence would terminate. The only viable option to achieve this within a very tight timescale is to have the Pharmacy initially as a portakabin and later a permanent structure on the Wellbrook site. The portakabin is specially designed and fitted internally as a temporary pharmacy and has been used before. There will be no commercial association between the Doctors and the Pharmacist other than that of a tenant and landlord.
There have been two principal concerns. First is what option serves the people of Hilton best. Providing a Pharmacy on site means there will be two local Pharmacies providing choice. The on site Pharmacy is a small business that has functioned locally for many years; Jhoots however is immediately adjacent, convenient, part of a large chain and offering extended hours. We see the services as complementary, as they were before Hilton Pharmacy was unfortunately shut down.
Secondly, people immediately local have been concerned about parking. Most users of the Pharmacy will be attending the Doctors in any event, and we are confident that any addition can be comfortably accommodated. There is plenty of space on the site and before any spillage occurred onto adjacent roads, we would seek to increase parking provision if needed.
We trust that this addresses your principal concerns. You may write with your comments to the Practice Manager. We will not be able to respond to every comment but promise that if there are any common or recurring concerns they will be addressed in a statement like this.
Dr M Vickers and Partners