MP Bell calls for pharmacy chain bosses to step down

A POLITICIAN has reported a pharmacy chain to a watch-dog and called for bosses to step down after staff allegedly went almost eight weeks without their correct pay.

- CONOR GOGARTY Investigations editor [e-mail]

Torsten Bell, Labour MP for Swansea West, said staff at the Morriston branch of Jhoots "are being treated extremely poorly, and patients and service users are being failed".

The chain has 153 pharmacies across the UK including six Welsh branches - in Cardiff, Risca, Caerphilly, Bridgend, Morriston and Aberystwyth - and many are reported to be battling crises including long-delayed wages, inadequate stock and unexplained closures.

Last month we reported on staff from Jhoots pharmacies complaining they were owed months of pay without explanation, yet had been threatened with disciplinary action if they did not turn up for work.

Mr Bell met with the industry regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC), and raised concerns that staff at Morriston's Strawberry Place branch "had not been paid properly for nearly eight weeks".

A spokeswoman for Mr Bell claimed: "Despite receiving payslips, workers have not been properly compensated and in September no pay was issued at all.

"Staff have raised both informal and formal grievances, and the matter has also been escalated to ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service)."

Mr Bell also alleged the branch had been without a pharmacist for more than seven weeks due to "pay issues." It comes after the Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) union accused Jhoots of owing freelance pharmacists £670,000 in unpaid fees by Jhoots.