On Monday, 3rd March, Rebecca Smith MP, Member of Parliament for South West Devon, tabled her petition to save the Newton Ferrers Pharmacy with over 1,000 signatures. Given that the population of the Newton and Noss Parish is only 1,778, it is an incredible showing of local support.
NHS contracts, which burn a black hole in many pharmacies' finances, have brought Tubbs Pharmacy in Newton Ferrers under threat of closure. When Rebecca Smith MP was made aware by constituents, she made it a priority to visit the pharmacy in the New Year and launched a petition to make the case to government for fairer NHS contacts.
The South West Devon MP has long been a supporter of community pharmacies, spending time at many chemists in and around the constituency. She argues that the situation has never been this dire.
Rebecca Smith MP, Member of Parliament for South West Devon, stated:
Today I tabled my petition to save the Newton Ferrers Pharmacy with over 1,000 signatures in the House of Commons.
Faced with rising staff costs inflicted by Labour's hike to Employers’ National Insurance Contributions and having to pay her supplier more for medicines than she is repaid by the NHS, Pharmacy Owner Esi Kumurdzi is being squeezed in two directions.
Esi provides a vital service to the population of Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo, the majority of who are over retirement age. However, as things currently stand, she is nervous for the future.
My petition calls on the Labour Government to ensure that the NHS funding pharmacists receive for prescriptions matches their cost. I’m not asking for special favours, just fairness.
The more than 1,000 signatories demonstrate the overwhelming level of local support for Esi’s pharmacy. I look forward to hearing the Labour Government’s response which I will share with constituents.
Despite the clear need for her medical service in the community, Newton Ferrers pharmacist and owner Esi Kumurdzi is having to use her own money to subsidise the cost of prescriptions. Like many pharmacists, a great deal of the medicine Esi buys she sells at a loss. One example is blood thinner, which she loses 93p on for every packet.
Esi, supported by only two colleagues, serves more than 1,300 patients from the villages of Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo. Many of Esi's loyal customers are elderly and have described her care in the community as a lifeline.
Esi fears that without the NHS Pharmacy contract changing soon, she will be forced to close her pharmacy in just months.
Rebecca argues that pharmacists should not be out of pocket for the vital services they provide in their community. South West Devon alone has 14 pharmacies, each facing the same challenges. If they close it will leave many isolated and only move the problem along to GPs, adding further pressure on NHS waiting lists.
In response, Rebecca has launched a petition which makes a simple ask. It calls on the Labour Government to ensure that the NHS funding pharmacists receive for prescriptions matches their cost.
