The Pharmacy offers far more than just prescriptions. Without the funding the pharmacy would not be viable, denying local residents and holiday makers access to free healthcare advice and OTC medicines to self treat minor ailments. The frail and the elderly rely on these services and would not be able to access the next available pharmacy 15 miles away by road, or 2.5 miles away by ferry as public transport can be erratic and they may not be able to drive.
As a result local GP appointments would be forecast to increase drastically, with an overspill into already stretched A&E services.
The funds of £54,000 for the Pharmacy have already been budgeted for and simply needs to be agreed to be released by the local NHS England area team. If not used, the funds will be returned to the national pharmacy pot and split between the 15,000 other pharmacies in the UK so no money will be saved by the government and the resultant extra money would go unnoticed by other independant's when split between the rest of the national pharmacies (£4 each per year). Only the big corporate chains like Boots and Lloyds who own the majority of the rest of the pharmacies will gain from such a decision.
Please note; a signature to support St Mawes Pharmacy would NOT draw money from the local dispensing GP surgery budget (which is separate) and would help St Mawes Pharmacy support the surgery. This is thus NOT a choice between St Mawes Pharmacy or local dispensing GP as rumor has spread. This is a signature to support funding for the pharmacy to work ALONGSIDE entirely separate local dispensing GP services which cannot offer the extra services St Mawes Pharmacy provides (i.e free healthcare advice and OTC medicines without appointments). Local residents and holiday makers need BOTH services.
