Glastonbury could get a new pharmacy after two closed

Glastonbury could get a new pharmacy, after two closed in the town last year.

The town, with a population of 9,000, currently has just one pharmacy open, on Feversham Lane.

An application for a new pharmacy has been approved by a south west pharmacy committee.

NHS Somerset said it was a "key milestone" but there "remain several steps to be undertaken" before a new pharmacy could open.

Two of Glastonbury's three pharmacies closed in the space of three months last year - Tesco and then Boots.

Since then, NHS Somerset said it had been "working closely" with the town's remaining provider, Well Pharmacy, which had faced an increased workload.

A report to NHS Somerset said the South West Pharmaceutical Services Regulatory Committee had approved an application for a new community pharmacy in Glastonbury.

It was "satisfied that granting the application would confer a significant benefit to the local population by way of access to, or choice of, pharmaceutical services".

However, an appeal has been lodged against that decision which is now being managed by NHS Resolution, which resolves disputes.

It has not yet been made public which company would run the new pharmacy, or where it would be located.

Neighbouring town Street, which is just over two miles away, has three pharmacies.

Hundreds of people signed a petition in autumn last year to try and save the Boots pharmacy.

Pharmacists, including from Somerset, demonstrated outside parliament last week over what they called "the collapse of the pharmacy network".

At the time of the Boots closure in Glastonbury, the government said it was monitoring access to pharmaceutical services .

It also said it had announced almost £650m of additional funding for the sector, on top of the £2.6bn it provided every year.

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