In News

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

Residents in one of the most deprived parts of England who spent years campaigning for a pharmacy in their town having faced a mile walk to access the nearest pharmaceutical services finally got their wish when one opened this week.

Allied Pharmacy opened its doors in Podsmead, Gloucester, which is in the 10 per cent most deprived areas of the country and sits fourth the county’s health deprivation index, according to Gloucester County Council.

Labour MP Alex McIntyre said it was “fantastic to see the new pharmacy in Podsmead finally open after a series of challenges and setbacks”. Its opening follows the council’s rejection last month of a £45 million regeneration project which would have seen 172 new homes built.

Insisting the new pharmacy will serve “local people who have been crying out for better pharmacy and health provision for years”, McIntyre told the BBC: “In the light of the recent rejection of the wider Podsmead Regeneration Scheme by Gloucester City Council, I am particularly pleased to see the pharmacy operational and serving local people.

“Being able to access a local pharmacy to pick up prescriptions or talk to a pharmacist can make a huge difference to our overall health and wellbeing.”

The director of Allied Pharmacy Bilal Moolla told Gloucester Live it had been “a long journey from the start” and they had to go “through many hurdles” to open the pharmacy.

“Podsmead was identified as a place in Gloucester which was in dire need of a pharmacy by the local health authority and NHS England,” he said, revealing his company has “taken several security measures to combat the threat of theft which was previously a cause for concern”.

“We are passionate in helping the local community with their health needs and offer a whole array of services, such as NHS and private prescriptions, private consultations, free blood pressure checks, pharmacy first, free contraception, vaccinations, new medicine service and a whole lot more.”

Picture: www.parliament.uk