A BIZARRE situation whereby a pharmacy could not move into the new £1.8m medical centre which it financed has been resolved.
Pharmacist Steven Lo, who has chemists in Barnsley, Worsbrough, Grimethorpe and Manvers, funded the building of the Woodland Drive Medical Centre, which opened last month. The new building includes a pharmacy, and Mr Lo planned to close his Tripharm business on Dodworth Road and reopen in the centre, but was refused a licence for a new pharmacy by NHS England.
He has since applied to move Tripharm instead and that has now been approved, so the move will go ahead on January 5. "It has been quite confusing really," Mr Lo told the Chronicle." More than 500 people signed a petition calling for NHS England to approve the licence back in October. It was initially turned down as it was said there was already 'reasonable choice' of pharmacies in the area.
The stand-off would have meant patients using the new centre at Woodland Drive would have had to travel back down to Dodworth Road. "It's been resolved now, that's the main thing," said Mr Lo. "The new centre has much better, more modern, more professional facilities.
A spokesman for NHS England said: "We are delighted that a solution has been reached and patients and members of the public will now have access to pharmacy services at the Woodland Drive centre. Local pharmacies are a great source of advice and help which people can access without the need for an appointment."
