Plans to close one of two pharmacies in Luton's Sundon Park area

An area of Luton that has already seen one of its two GP surgeries closed could be set to lose one of its two pharmacies in a cost-cutting move.

And concerns have been raised that while the pharamacies are “about a two minute walk apart”, the one proposed to remain open is “half the size” of the other.

NHS England has received an application to consolidate two pharmacies owned by Rowland and Company (Retail) Limited in Sundon Park, according to a report to the borough council’s scrutiny health and social care review group.

The two pharmacies are near each other, with the one in Sundon Park Road to stay open, and the other at The Parade expected to close, explained the report.

Luton Public Health received the notification from NHS England to consolidate the two privately owned premises into one unit in July.

“A gap in service isn’t anticipated because the area won’t be left without a pharmacy and the same services will be available,” added the report.

Public health manager with LBC’s healthy lives team Serena Abel told the review group: “This concerns two pharmacies about a two-minute walk apart and accessed by similar patient groups.

“The site at The Parade is the one subject to closure, which is currently quiet in terms of pharmaceutical services and retail sales because of low patient and customer footfall,” she said.

“The deadline for responses is September 4th. We’ll formulate a response and send that to NHS England to take forward.”

Conservative Bramingham councillor and Sundon Park resident Gilbert Campbell said the shelves are often empty during the last two years in the premises set for closure.

“The only problem is that the one they want to keep open is half the size of the other,” he warned.

“I know the people who’ve run this for the last 30 years and I can understand the reasoning why because of the economics.”

Liberal Democrat Round Green councillor Steve Moore, who was chairing the meeting, agreed, saying: “As someone who’s lived in Sundon Park pretty much my whole life it never made sense to me that there were two sites.

“It does appear the one which is going to close is bigger. The other pharmacy sees persistent queues on to the main forecourt outside within peak hours.

“While I agree there should only be one, it’s making sure we’re closing the right site and doing the best for the residents by having the bigger option, which makes most sense to me.”

Labour South councillor David Agbley said: “Pharmacies are meant to be taking on more of what GPs do. My concern is the direction of travel with the population growing and could they meet the demand.

“Have they done a quality impact assessment if they’re supposed to be providing more services?” he asked.

Corporate director population wellbeing Mark Fowler wondered: “Has anyone done any capacity planning?”

Ms Abel replied: “We haven’t seen any of that work. The documentation may exist. I can ask for it.

“That’s been extremely useful to get the local perspective. We’ll include all the comments in our response. We can report back on the progress of this application.”