It is a busy lunchtime in the Swansea valley town of Pontardawe. People are visiting their local bakery to get a bite to eat and picking up their prescriptions from the high street. Perhaps at first glance, you would not guess there were any tensions brewing in the area, until you ask people one question which in most towns would not be a very controversial one.
What are the pharmacies like here?
Many roll their eyes, some respond with a straight to the point swear word and others are a bit more relaxed about the issue. One thing is clear though, Pontardawe has a problem with its pharmacies and lots of residents want something to be done about it.
With reports of wait times of over an hour and prescriptions going missing, many people have started to travel out of Pontardawe for their medication to avoid the issues at the Lloyds and Well pharmacies on the high street. You can read more stories about Neath here.
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Although there is a general feeling of sympathy for the staff that have to deal with long queues, issues with prescriptions and sometimes verbal abuse from customers, many residents called for a third pharmacy in Pontardawe which was rejected by the health board in 2021.
"To use Well [pharmacy], it's like being tortured," said one resident who wished to be unnamed as she still needs to use the pharmacy occasionally to pick up her prescriptions. The resident often drives to the next town to use a different pharmacy to avoid queues and added "You spend an hour queueing, there's a lot of elderly people waiting. I can do it at 59 but others can't."
"I used to use Lloyds then things went downhill and I swapped to Well. There's something going on but I don't know what it is. Why not a third pharmacy? I don't get it. The demand is there and people want the service."
Mary Rees, 79, said she often has to wait for over an hour for her prescriptions at Well pharmacy. "It's awful. I've been waiting for my daughter's tablets before and had to come back three times," she said. "It's not the staff's fault. They don't have the prescriptions. There was supposed to be another chemists but it didn't happen."
It is a similar story across the road at Lloyds, "I always have problems with medication," customer Helen Brown, 79, who has a heart condition and arthritis tells me. Mrs Brown said she has gone for up to a week without medication for her heart condition due to delays. The local resident who uses a walking stick added that she often travels by bus from her home in Ynysmeudw to pick up her prescription after receiving texts to say her medication is ready, only to come back empty handed.
Claire Jones, 39, has had a different experience with her local chemist and said the staff at Lloyds have been really helpful after her son was diagnosed with epilepsy and she needed to collect medication for him regularly. "You've got to wait a bit long sometimes but that might be due to Covid," she said.
Last year, Swansea pharmacist Ajmol Ali was "astonished" after his application for a third pharmacy in Pontardawe was rejected by Swansea Bay University Health Board. At the time, Mr Ali commented that he was "deeply dissappointed" with the health board's decision and said:
"We believe the local health board members completely disregarded the well-informed opinions of key community leaders and town council members, many of whom have written strong letters of support, which were included as evidence with our application.
“We are quite astonished at the Health Board’s conclusion that the existing two pharmacies are adequately addressing the needs of the community and that no complaints have ever been raised. In our understanding, this is completely contrary to the experience of locals and their community leaders.”
Mr Ali of Medway Pharm Ltd started a petition which received almost 500 signatures, asking people to "Help open an urgently needed Independent Pharmacy in Pontardawe." On the petition website, Mr Ali wrote:
"The growth of the community of Pontardawe and the surrounding areas has steadily outgrown the current capacity of Pharmacy services in the area. This is particularly affecting our elderly and at-risk members of our community who urgently rely on timely access to their essential medicines and pharmacy services."
Despite the clear stance of Mr Ali and some of the residents on a third pharmacy, not everyone feels this would solve any problems. Gellinudd community councillor Joanne Todd said "Whether there is a need for a third pharmacy or not, I don't know. We need to sort out the two pharmacies that are there already."
Cllr Todd said that there are more housing estates in areas like Rhos, Alltwen, Rhydyfro and Godrergraig which all use the Pontardawe pharmacies and the population is bigger than it ever has been. The community councillor is working with the pharmacies to improve the issue and said:
"We are working to resolve the problems but it is difficult to get hold of stock. I think the pharmacies are finding it difficult because of Brexit. Lots of medication is made abroad and to try to get hold of certain stock is difficult."
On the common complaints she hears about the pharmacy, Cllr Todd said: "The queues are too long, the stock isn't in the pharmacy and they can't get what they need."
Recently, Jeremy Miles, the education minister and MS for Neath, met with the Chief Executive of Swansea Bay University Health Board to raise a number of issues which included pharmacy provision at Pontardawe. The minister commented:
"I am acutely aware of the ongoing issues with the two pharmacies in Pontardawe. My office has been receiving regular complaints from constituents who are frustrated with the standard of service that they are receiving."
After meeting with the health board, he said: "I was pleased that the Chief Executive agreed to look into these concerns and I will be asking for regular progress updates so that I can keep residents of Pontardawe informed."
A Swansea Bay University Health Board spokesman said: “We were aware of recent complaints about pharmacy provision in the area and met last week with the two pharmacies and GP practice to understand the issues and agree a way forward. The meeting was a positive one with both pharmacies committed to working together to improve patient experience.
"There appear to have been some workforce and communication issues which have temporarily affected pharmacy services but these are now being resolved. An action plan has been agreed to continue to improve pharmacy provision and the health board will continue to monitor services.
“An application for a third pharmacy was managed through the formal Pharmacy Application Committee in August last year but it was considered that the local area did not need an additional pharmacy as there was already adequate provision. This decision was recently upheld on appeal. The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) for the health board was published on October 1, 2021, and concluded that there were no issues with capacity of pharmaceutical provision across the health board footprint. We hope that service provision by the existing pharmacies will continue to improve in the weeks ahead.”
Lloyds Pharmacy and Well Pharmacy did not respond for comment.
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