Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday (November 12) announced that pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock has “convened representatives from across the industry to resolve the situation” with Jhoots pharmacies “as quickly as possible”.
Speaking at PMQs, he said that he wanted to “reassure” MPs that the government is “working speedily to consider how to strengthen regulation of these pharmacies”, adding that he will update the House of Commons on this issue “as soon as [he] can”.
Starmer’s comments came in response to a question from Liberal Democrat MP for West Dorset Edward Morello.
Read more: Revealed: The 60 Jhoots locations taken over by Allied Pharmacies
Morello told the Commons that Jhoots pharmacies have “been responsible for repeated closures, leaving staff unpaid and residents without access to vital medicine”.
“Unfit pharmacy owners like Sarbjit Jhooty – who has severely neglected patients and staff in West Dorset and across England – should not be running our care system,” he said.
The Jhoots Pharmacy brand is made up of various independent businesses, some of which have come under fire for a range of issues.
“Emergency legislation”
Morello asked Starmer if he would “make time in the parliamentary schedule for emergency legislation” to give the government and regulators “powers to pay staff, tackle improper pharmacy owners and directors and make sure scandals like this can never happen again”.
Starmer thanked Morello for raising this “very serious issue” and stressed that it is “simply not right that customers and staff have been so badly let down”.
C+D approached Sarbjit Jhooty for comment.
Read more: BREAKING: Allied Pharmacies takes over 60 Jhoots branches
Labour MP for North Somerset and pharmacist Sadik Al-Hassan also addressed the comments, noting that he was “pleased to hear” Starmer’s “commitment to address this long-standing issue” after “working closely” with Morello on the question.
“Pharmacy business owners must be held to the same standards of accountability as the professionals employed by them,” he stressed, noting that “this problem affects communities across the country”.
Al-Hassan added that he will “continue working across party lines with ministers and regulators to deliver the robust regulatory framework required to ensure the effective services communities expect”.
“Well below the mark”
There are various businesses operating under the Jhoots Pharmacy brand name.
A representative for two of these previously told C+D that the numerous allegations of financial mismanagement at Jhoots pharmacies do not relate to those under Manjit Jhooty’s ownership and operation.
Manjit Jhooty owns and operates 21 of the 151 pharmacies trading under the Jhoots Pharmacy brand name through his companies Jhoots Healthcare Limited and Pasab Limited.
Read more: Exclusive: Unpaid locums take legal action against Jhoots pharmacies
“There is no legal, financial or governance connection between my companies and those operated by Sarbjit Jhooty - we are independent businesses and share only the Jhoots Pharmacy brand name,” he said at the time.
“The pharmacies that my businesses operate are all fully solvent, functional and continue to provide important services and professional support to their local communities and that is not going to change,” he added.
It comes as Allied Pharmacies last week announced that it had “taken over the management of 60 Jhoots pharmacies”.
Read more: Kinnock: Jhoots services are falling ‘well below the mark’
Meanwhile, C+D exclusively last month revealed that locum pharmacists have launched legal action against businesses operated by Sarbjit Jhooty and Nilam Patel over unpaid fees – with Jhoots businesses owned by the pair owing locums a total of almost £1 million.
And Kinnock told MPs last month that the services provided by Jhoots pharmacies are “falling well below the mark”, stressing that it is “completely and utterly unacceptable” if some staff are not being paid.
It follows extensive C+D reporting on the pharmacy chain, including that staff had been unable to “pay for groceries” and had to “hitch rides” to work after it failed to pay their wages, while others said they were owed thousands and resorting to food banks.
