A DEBATE on the state of pharmacies in Wellington has been delayed for three months after not enough members attended a Somerset Council partnership meeting.

The Somerset Board, a high-level strategic partnership of councillors and health, care, and wellbeing professionals, was to have discussed the subject on June 30.

But, the forum was inquorate after too few members attended for it to legally take any decisions and it was postponed until the next scheduled meeting on September 29.

Wellington Pharmacy Action Group campaigner Roger Tozer had tabled questions about pharmacy provision in the town.

The opening earlier this year of Allied Pharmacies after it took over the former Jhoots premises in Fore Street saw provision in the town return to three, after dropping to two following the closures of a Boots concession and the Jhoots branch.

There had been complaints that two pharmacies were not enough with patients queuing the length of the premises and facing lengthy waits for service, particularly affecting those with mobility issues.

Mr Tozer, who founded the action group, said a sharp rise in online ordering of prescriptions by patients had been seen while the town was reduced to two pharmacies.

He said it had soared from 39 per cent in 2023 to slightly more than 60 per cent by the early part of this year.

Mr Tozer said: “This shifts the vast majority of Wellington’s pharmaceutical care completely away from face-to-face clinical access, rendering national primary care frameworks like ‘Pharmacy First’ functionally inaccessible to over half of our local population.

“These verified metrics expose a profound, real time breakdown in local high street capacity.”

Mr Tozer wanted the board to issue a ‘supplementary statement’ identifying the need for more face-to-face pharmacy services, before a review due in 2028.

Action group campaigner Alison Green said: “As a local resident, I am directly experiencing the fallout of this capacity crisis through longer queues, delays, and a lack of face-to-face community access.

“Given that the current assessment still has two years to run, will the board protect Wellington residents by using its legal powers to issue an immediate supplementary statement acknowledging a critical deficit in in our physical high street pharmacy provision, rather than making us wait until 2028 for action?”

Community Pharmacy Somerset operations manager Yvonne Lamb said a fourth Wellington pharmacy which had been refused on the Westpark business park, Chelston, was currently under appeal.

Somerset Council public health consultant Dr Orla Dunn said: “A supplementary statement cannot make an assessment of a deficit or a gap in provision.

“Legally, we cannot issue such an assessment in the way that the action group requests.

“In response to the point about ‘Pharmacy First’ access, I would take this opportunity to state that anybody not able to consult ‘Pharmacy First’ can also contact 111 for primary care advice.”

NHS Somerset prepares a pharmaceutical needs assessment every few years to assess where extra pharmacy provision is needed, whether that is new store openings or existing premises staying open for longer to handle high levels of demand.