On Wednesday, 5th March I tabled my petition to save Newton Ferrers Pharmacy with almost 1,000 signatures. It highlights that Owner and Pharmacist Esi Kumurdzi is having to use her own money to subsidise the cost of prescriptions and makes a simple ask, to ensure that the NHS funding pharmacists receive for prescriptions matches their cost.
The Labour Health Minister's template response will do little to reassure owner and pharmacist Esi, nor the local community.
The Minister states that the Labour Government will write off £193 million of debt. However, he provides no detail about how this support will affect Esi or if it will be available for the debt she has incurred privately. The Minister's headline figures provide no answers and could be found with a simple Google search.
While I welcome the new, future pharmacy school at the University of Plymouth, I did not approach the Labour Government with a staffing issue. Esi is the sole pharmacist in her business; Labour's Jobs Tax render any future job hire impossible.
Esi has no way of knowing from this response if she has been rescued or is drifting ever-closer to a financial cliff edge. I am writing to the Department to ask for Esi to receive the response she is owed.
Click on the PDF below to read the Labour Health Minister's full response.
