Great Park Pharmacy opened last week (August 3) in the Newcastle Great Park housing development, which will hold over 14,000 residents when building work is completed in 2030.

More than 6,000 people currently live in Great Park – which includes sheltered accommodation for vulnerable residents – but the pharmacy is the first business to open in one of 19 commercial units on the development.

Speaking to C+D at the pharmacy's opening, director Jutinder Kler said the business is “more than just a pharmacy” and aims to cater to the needs of residents, who currently suffer from a “lack of amenities in the area”.

“We are also acting as the one-stop shop, where people can pick up the everyday essentials,” she said.

The pharmacy currently stocks items such as cereal, a variety of tinned food, tea, coffee and sugar and is also looking for a milk supplier.

Working with the community

With more houses being built on the development and the surrounding areas, Ms Kler said the pharmacy is providing a free medicines delivery service in the Newcastle area.

“We are also getting heavily involved with the community, schools, workplaces – educating [people] on the services that pharmacies provide,” Ms Kler told C+D.

“We aim to approach [this] in innovative ways [and] get our message out across social media platforms, which has been a huge success so far.”

Local MP “so pleased”

Catherine McKinnell (pictured above), Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North – who opened the site and has publicly opposed the pharmacy funding cuts in England – told C+D she was “so pleased” to see a new pharmacy opening in her constituency.

“I know just how valuable the wide range of services provided by pharmacists are to local communities, and it’s important that as many people as possible have access to these,” she added.

“Three years of hard work”

Ms Kler claimed there are “no pharmacies in over a mile of the development”.

The pharmacy's application was granted in November, more than a year after it was submitted and two years after the pharmacy site was first “earmarked”, Ms Kler explained.

“I was working closely with the developer on the progress of the town. We had to wait until a unit became available…and that’s what took time.”

However, “after three years of hard work” Ms Kler and her husband – superintendent pharmacist Jagdeep Kler – have “finally got a pharmacy for the area and the first healthcare service provider for the local people”, she added.

Group photo, from left to right: Dispensers Katarzyna Kate Tambor and Karen Oselton; pharmacist Alibhe McDonagh; Anita Lower, councillor for Castle Ward; Graeme Kirkley, Gradon Architecture; director Jutinder Kler; superintendent Jagdeep Kler; Catherine McKinnell MP; Ann Gunning, North of Tyne local pharmaceutical committee; Chrissie Neve, Octopus Healthcare; Jamie Greenwood, Yorkline Shopfitting