TIVERTON residents are being urged to attend a vital meeting about ongoing issues with pharmacies in the town.

Problems at Jhoots Pharmacy branches in Tiverton are leading to long queues at other pharmacies there, as well as those in neighbouring towns.

A public meeting has been called to allow residents to share the problems they are experiencing with the town’s reduced pharmacy provision, with the ultimate aim being to lobby the government to take action.

Councillor Steve Lodge (Liberal Democrat, Tiverton West), will be chairing the meeting, with the aim to glean insight from the public about problems securing medication and the impact on health conditions.

This will then be collated with other information from the likes of Devon’s NHS and sent to Stephen Kinnock MP, the social care minister, as part of lobbying efforts to try and encourage action from the government.

“Tiverton had five pharmacies but now only has two and a bit, as Jhoots is struggling to be open or have a pharmacist, and that is having a knock-on effect,” Cllr Lodge said.

“I attended the Bampton Town Council meeting this week, and they are experiencing queues in their pharmacy as people in Tiverton are going elsewhere.”

The idea for the public meeting, which will be attended by town’s MP, Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat) came from a motion proposed by Councillor Beckett Fish at Tiverton Town Council.

The town council will be hosting the meeting on Friday, January 9 from 6.15pm to 8pm, but Cllr Lodge stressed it was a public meeting and not a scheduled council meeting.

“We need to know what’s really going on on the ground,” Cllr Lodge added.

“We need to know what the real issues are and the problems people are experiencing. There will be some anger and frustration as well as some significant health concerns and we need to understand what’s going on.”

The Jhoots Pharmacy branch in Tiverton’s Market Place has been included on a list of branches set to be taken over by rival Allied Pharmacies alongside two other Devon branches in Seaton and Sidmouth.

Tiverton’s Newport Street Jhoots branch was included in an initial list of 60 pharmacies in November last year that Allied announced it would be taking on.

In November, Tiverton Town Council supported a motion to hold a public meeting on the issue.

At that meeting, it heard that the closure of one pharmacy in Tiverton town centre and the frequent unplanned closures in another, had “significantly reduced access to pharmacy services for residents of Tiverton”.

“The remaining town centre pharmacy and the hospital-based pharmacy are facing unsustainable demand, leading to long queues, waiting times of between one to two hours, and persistent medicine stock issues,” the motion stated.

Ms Gilmour has already escalated her concerns to Mr Kinnock, but is likely to press for further action following this week’s public meeting.

The issue has also been aired in Parliament by her fellow Lib Dem MP, Richard Foord.