A pharmacy chain has serious questions to answer over allegations of financial mismanagement, according to MP Sadik Al Hassan.<\/p>\n
Staff at Jhoots Pharmacies run by Sarbjit Jhooty are owed \u00a3670,000 in unpaid wages, according to union Pharmacists Defence Association. There are about 150 Jhoots Pharmacies across the UK, of which 129 are run by Sarbjit.<\/p>\n
Mr Al Hassan said the situation was \u00ab\u00a0shocking\u00a0\u00bb, with patients left struggling to get prescriptions as Jhoots branches were regularly and unexpectedly closed, or open with low stock.<\/p>\n
Sarbjit said he was working to return things to normal \u00ab\u00a0as swiftly as possible\u00a0\u00bb while NHS representatives said they were working to resolve issues.<\/p>\n
The Pharmacists Defence Association said the \u00a3670,000 unpaid wage bill related to locum staff who worked for Jhoots branches across the UK.<\/p>\n
Unlike permanent employees, locum staff operate in a freelance capacity and usually provide short-term cover.<\/p>\n
One former Jhoots worker claims to be owned several thousand pounds after working at a branch in Somerset.<\/p>\n
She asked to be kept anonymous, fearing speaking publicly may impact her claim for payment, and said: \u00ab\u00a0[In] January they just seemed to stop paying us.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She said she spoke to Sarbjit about the issues, and he referred her to HR. However, her emails to the department went unanswered.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s been horrendous,\u00a0\u00bb she said. \u00ab\u00a0We’ve all fallen behind with all our bills, people have mortgages, car payments to pay.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s affected us greatly, even down to being able to send my child to school with a packed lunch for the day. I wasn’t able to provide at points, having to borrow money off family members.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s affected my mental health quite heavily.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She said issues at the pharmacy also meant staff had to deal with \u00ab\u00a0angry customers\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0They weren’t getting their medication,\u00a0\u00bb she explained. \u00ab\u00a0Or they were being promised it and then it was being given to other patients, so then we were having to reorder the stock. It wasn’t pleasant.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
In Wiltshire, Swindon South MP Heidi Alexander is promoting a petition calling on Jhoots’ bosses to act after a branch in the town had regularly been closed.<\/p>\n
She said there had been \u00ab\u00a0repeated closures, no pharmacists, unanswered calls, empty shelves\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0This isn’t just inconvenient. When people are unwell, it’s unsafe,\u00a0\u00bb she added.<\/p>\n
In Fishponds, Bristol, one branch was closed with a sign on the door blaming a lack of pharmacists.<\/p>\n
Similarly in Somerset, a poster in the window of the closed Jhoots Pharmacy in Williton reads \u00ab\u00a0no pharmacist today\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Residents there told the BBC it had been consistently shut for three to four weeks.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s impacted everybody around here,\u00a0\u00bb said one resident, who said it had particularly impacted the older generation who had found it \u00ab\u00a0very hard\u00a0\u00bb to get their prescriptions.<\/p>\n
Residents in Portishead have also seen a \u00ab\u00a0massive decline\u00a0\u00bb in the availability of pharmacy services, according to Mr Al Hassan.<\/p>\n
The North Somerset MP, who used to be a pharmacist, said the situation was \u00ab\u00a0unacceptable\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Jhoots are unreliably open, they don’t necessarily have common items of stock available for prescriptions and now one of them [in Portishead], on the Thursday before the last bank holiday, shuttered their doors and never reopened,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
Across the UK there are 153 Jhoots pharmacies registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.<\/p>\n
All are owned, at least in part, by either Sarbjit or Manjit Jhooty.<\/p>\n
Manjit, who owns more than 20 Jhoots branches through his companies Pasab and Jhoots Healthcare, said the trading name Jhoots was used by several, independent companies which each had their own management structure and procedures.<\/p>\n
He said his branches remained \u00ab\u00a0fully functional and continue to deliver services to the communities they serve\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
The allegations in this article relate to pharmacies managed by Sarbjit, who confirmed he operated independently from Manjit.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0While we share the name, Jhoots Pharmacy is an entirely separate and independent pharmacy,\u00a0\u00bb Sarbjit said.<\/p>\n
He admitted there had been issues at his pharmacies, and blamed \u00ab\u00a0workforce and recruitment challenges\u00a0\u00bb which he said had been a problem in the South West \u00ab\u00a0for many years\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We are actively engaging with staff, local partners, and wider stakeholders to address these pressures and ensure that patient care and community services are supported in the long term,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
Sarbjit did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment on allegations Jhoots staff had not been paid.<\/p>\n
Mr Al Hassan is due to meet Jhoots bosses this month, but he said the NHS also needed to get a handle on the issues.<\/p>\n
He said the health service could grant and take away NHS work from pharmacies and called on Jhoots to surrender its NHS contracts in his constituency.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Even though that Jhoots [in Portishead] is closed, it still counts as having a pharmacy contract in the area,\u00a0\u00bb he explained.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0In 2023, Jhoots bought another 40-odd pharmacies that were closing.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0They were allowed to do that despite their history of poor abilities to open their pharmacy or contract compliance.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0This level of contract management puts the entire reputation of pharmacy at risk, to allow an operator like this to continue,\u00a0\u00bb he continued.<\/p>\n
When approached for comment, NHS England directed the BBC to various NHS Integrated Care Boards in the South West which are responsible for managing pharmaceutical contracts on a local level.<\/p>\n
In very similar statements, spokespeople for the care boards in North Somerset, Somerset and Swindon said they recognised the concern caused when pharmacies closed. They added they were \u00ab\u00a0committed\u00a0\u00bb to ensuring residents had access to alternative provision.<\/p>\n
All said they could take formal action against pharmacies in breach of their contracts \u00ab\u00a0where necessary\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A pharmacy chain has serious questions to answer over allegations of financial mismanagement, according to MP Sadik Al Hassan. Staff at Jhoots Pharmacies run by Sarbjit Jhooty are owed \u00a3670,000 in unpaid wages, according to union Pharmacists Defence Association. There are about 150 Jhoots Pharmacies across the UK, of which 129 are run by Sarbjit. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}