Letter: The Impact of the Boots Closure in Merrow Park

Published on: 14 Oct, 2023
Updated on: 14 Oct, 2023

Boots Pharmacy, Merrow Park – Google Street View

From: Frank Phillipson

I hear that the Boots Pharmacy at Merrow Park, opposite the doctor’s surgery, is to close in about four week’s time.

I know that Boots is “concentrating” their operations on fewer stores and that there are similar situations in the country, but to close a very well-used pharmacy adjacent to a GP’s surgery seems ridiculous.

I appreciate that Boots does have a smaller pharmacy in the shopping area on Epsom Road at Merrow but I hardly think it will cope if Merrow Park closes, and that is if the Merrow pharmacy is itself to remain open?

Boots has said of the closures that “in all cases there is an alternative store less than three miles away” and “most people would still be within a 10-minute drive of a Boots”. This comes on top of the loss of the Lloyds pharmacy in Sainsbury’s at Burpham.

It all smacks of the US owners of Boots regarding its profits with very much greater importance than its customers.

I also understand that the government subsidises pharmacies, “It provides £2.59 billion of funding, annually, to fund NHS pharmacy services in England” (source: The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in England).

If so, why is it that the government does not have some form of insistence on the provision of pharmacies accessible to communities?

Responses to Letter: The Impact of the Boots Closure in Merrow Park

Jan Messinger Reply

October 15, 2023 at 9:09 pm

Sadly I personally think very soon there will be no pharmacies and that there will be a central depot with “Amazon style” deliveries all over the country with little white vans. Soon there will be no interaction with a human.

You often need advise or assistance at a pharmacy. Sadly, I fear those days are numbered and I can only see it getting worse.