I HAVE lived in Amesbury for 27 years and for much of that time the town was well served by independent chemists. Now we have two pharmacies both run by Boots and the service provided by both is abysmal.

This is not the fault of the staff who are clearly doing their very best in trying circumstances, but have insufficient personnel to meet demand. There are often long queues outside these chemists and people, (myself included), are invariably informed that we would have to wait up to an hour for a prescription and advised to come back the following day. This can result in people getting fractious thereby compounding the stress on the overwrought staff.

My concern is that working in such conditions increases the risk of mistakes being made with prescriptions that could have adverse impacts on peoples health. This situation that can only deteriorate further with the new housing currently being built in the town. I have heard that people are asking whether they can collect their prescriptions elsewhere, which if true, will have a deleterious impact on pharmacies in surrounding villages. I have spoken to Boots, and to date they have given no indication that they intend to deal with the issues raised. I understand that when Tesco came to Amesbury, their application for an in-store pharmacy was turned down. In hindsight this was a mistake as Boots are abusing the monopoly they currently hold in Amesbury.

Mark Barrett

Amesbury