As Knott End residents will be aware, the Jhoots pharmacy has repeatedly closed in recent months, often at very short notice.
Due to these closures, a huge number of patients have been forced to travel as far as Hambleton (an 8 mile round trip) to pick up their prescriptions, instead of being able to pick up their prescriptions from the Over Wyre Medical Centre just around the corner.
Even more troublingly, many residents have been forced to go without their prescriptions due to the distance between Knott End and Hambleton. Some residents, who struggle with mobility, have been entirely unable to take an 8 mile round trip for a prescription.
It has become clear that the key reason for Over Wyre Medical Centre’s inability to dispense prescriptions is due to what is known as the “one mile rule”, I believe with the area being deemed a ‘designated controlled locality’. This rule set in the 2012 Health and Social Cat Act prevents patients within 1.6km of a pharmacy from receiving their prescriptions from a GP, such as Over Wyre Medical Centre – presumably in order to assist privately-owned rural community pharmacies to stay financially viable and prevent patients only using GP services.
I’ve raised Jhoots pharmacy closures with the Health Secretary last year, and this year I have specifically asked about the one mile rule issue, which the Government have responded to me on with some helpful background which has allowed me to take this forward to try and get a solution.
I have written to the local Integrated Care Board to request that Knott End is given Reserved Location status, and you can see my letter below:
I will update residents as soon as I receive a response.
You can find out more about the work that I’ve done to restore pharmacy care in Knott End here: