Mayor of Holsworthy councillor Nigel Kenneally last week (January 30) demanded action from Jhoots after patients were left “frustrated and concerned” by issues at the local branch.
Kenneally told C+D he “was delighted to have a pharmacy back in the centre of town” when Jhoots “took over the old Lloyds bank”.
Read more: Staff struggle to feed their kids after Jhoots missed January wages
“Assurances were given to me by management that the issues they had in their old premises would not continue at their new site,” he added.
But Kenneally said he was “deeply troubled to hear of the latest issues”.
“Upsetting” to staff
A sign posted on the premises two weeks ago, seen by C+D, revealed some of the problems faced by staff members.
The sign read: “I’m so so sorry for any inconvenience caused to all customers, due to...not finding cover for our normal pharmacist I’m afraid I can’t serve anyone”.
“This is upsetting to me as assistant and [I] hate letting you all down, on top I’ve still not been paid,” it said.
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“The pharmacist normally here is back February 3 – so just to make you aware, I’m not sure if he will be covered till then – I’m really sorry again,” it added.
Kenneally said that the problems, which include “late payment of wages to staff and no onsite pharmacist”, were brought to his attention at Christmas time.
“Local patients and I are incredibly frustrated and concerned by the current situation at Jhoots,” he said.
Read more: Lloydspharmacy: Jhoots rent row leaves town without pharmacy ‘indefinitely’
“I would strongly encourage Jhoots to remedy these issues at the earliest opportunity, so confidence in its service is restored to the people of Holsworthy,” he added.
Kenneally yesterday (February 4) told C+D that he had not received any communication from Jhoots about his concerns. It remains unclear whether the issues have been resolved.
C+D approached Jhoots for comment.
“We have to work for free”
The call for action comes after C+D last month exclusively revealed that Jhoots pharmacy staff handed in their notice after a missed January pay-day left them facing eviction and unable to “afford school lunches”.
A week on from pay-day, an anonymous staff member told C+D that they knew of “four stores minimum” in their area that hadn’t received any payment since before Christmas.
“We have to work for free because we can’t risk losing our jobs - we must uphold our half of the contract but they aren’t giving us any information about being paid,” another Jhoots staff member said.
Read more: Jhoots Pharmacy disposing of ‘existing branches’ amid £350k annual loss
And a separate Jhoots employee told C+D that colleagues are “being threatened with eviction because [they] can’t pay the rent”.
At the time, Jhoots said that there was a technical issue while processing January payments that led to a portion of staff not being paid, but that all staff had since received payment.
The company claimed that this affected a small portion of its staff.
Jhoots drama
Meanwhile in July, C+D revealed that the same Holsworthy Jhoots branch was the fourth premises to be repossessed by bailiffs in connection with Lloydspharmacy’s liquidation.
At the time, the town was left with just one “tiny” pharmacy after the branch was “evicted” from an ex-Lloydspharmacy premises for not paying rent “from day one”.
Read more: Lloydspharmacy liquidation: Jhoots branch third premises to be ‘repossessed’
The premises’ landlord told C+D that “when Lloydspharmacy was liquidated”, Jhoots “somehow managed” to go into the premises with “no lease assignment” and did not pay “a penny” of rent.
Jhoots said that it “[disputed] the facts recalled by the landlord” and stressed “that many genuine attempts were made by [the chain] to reach an amenable deal with the landlord”.
In April, bailiffs repossessed another Jhoots branch previously operated by Lloydspharmacy in Rainham, Kent – and the branch received a second bailiff visit just six months later.
