Say No To The Opening Of A Pharmacy in Castletown

Not needed and potentially harmful to existing services.

Castletown and Canisbay are already served by an excellent combined dispensing practice, accessible at two surgeries, which enjoy daily drug deliveries, and which would be threatened by the the inevitable loss of dispensary income subsequent to the opening of the proposed chain pharmacy. Local patients have made clear their support for the current dispensing practice, and their wish that it continue as it is. The proposed pharmacy offers little if any improvement to the dispensing service already in place; any additional services are simply duplications of those already offered by the GP practice, and a pharmacy would certainly not be able to replace any core GP services lost to the community as a result of the falloff in practice income. Any patient subsequently forced to seek a GP further afield, in Thurso or Wick, would have their prescriptions filled at the existing pharmacies in Thurso or Wick, rather than making the extra journey to Castletown pharmacy, threatening its own viability. Then where would we be? The applicant has elected to serve only a small part of the current catchment area, yet falsely claims the full dispensing volume of both surgeries in support of his application. He promises a delivery service to this small, relatively compact, area, yet avoids being contractually obliged to fulfill even this promise. He repeatedly promised to abandon his plans for application if the locals were against it; only one person supported his proposal after the initial consultation period, yet he went ahead with his application anyway. The proposed premises are of doubtful suitability, and his schedule for refurbishment unachievable. He applies in his own name as Responsible Pharmacist though he makes it clear he has no intention whatsoever of moving to the area. His manifest insincerity inspires no confidence, yet he aims to provide confidential health checks for the people whose wishes he ignores. The NHS constitution begins: "The NHS belongs to the p

must rate as one off the best doctors surgeries in our country with an excellent pharmacy service, why would NHS highland not wish to learn from our surgeries excellent management. i also wish it to noted that we have a business that accepts deliveries from large HGV vehicles which mostly always come from THURSO going to WICK and to large to U-turn .And we are not the only business in this part of the village.

We do not need or want a pharmacy in Castletown. We have a better service than people in the town and would like it to stay that way.

current services more than adequate.

we already have an excellent pharmacy,and a great surgery all under one roof why should we have another.

The surgery is absolutely essential to those who live in and around Castletown. It is incredibly short sighted and unsupportive of initiative to think of losing an holistic service for a commercial business.

in support of the small community and others like them everywhere..

This proposed pharmacy would have a severe detrimental effect on our fragile communities, in particular the elderly, infirm, and geographically isolated. Our current surgeries with their in-house dispensaries are superb and greatly appreciated by all the communities of north-east Caithness. Not only that, but if the surgeries become economically unviable without their dispensaries and have to close, then the current very lengthy wait for appointments in Wick/Thurso practices becomes much worse, and very difficult for patients. The health of many will suffer because of it.

I am strongly against the plan to have a pharmacy in castletown, as this will effect locals in a negative manner. I do not see how this plan would benefit our community. It will lead to job losses.

Good luck with the opposition, I sincerely hope it succeeds.

Why does this gentleman feel he can improve the service provided? When as you state he has clearly not researched it, I feel his motivation is purely financial!!!!

i have been a patient since 72 years at my local doctors and i never ever had any problems with it so we dont need a pharmacy now

we do not want a pharmacy we have a excelent run doctors surgery and it has been that way for all off caithness familys

Both these surgeries and pharmacies have always worked together very well. One cannot exist without the other and the valuable, essential medical services that they deliver by highly trained staff, who deliver a high professional, friendly, caring, first class service. As a patient have come to see this, during long times of unfortunate ill health. When tablets have had to be collected outwith the Castletown Surgery with no fault to the people concerned, the system just does not work and valuable time is wasted in making phone calls and checking paperwork before the tablets are handed over. I can see no reason how a new pharmacy outwith the surgeries would be any sort of asset to the patients or staff and would certainly fall very short in standards if the new parties involved are seeing this as a money maiking exercise with no regard to the health of the patients and staff to which it has to exist.and to which they would have to produce a 100 per cent service to which we are getting now. 'If its not broke; why fix it?'.

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

Having grown up in Castletown it would be a huge loss to the community if the surgery was not there.

Castletown & Canisbay community does not need a Pharmacy,the current service is excellent.

my family will no use this pharmacy if it opens

The existing service is all we need so why change it? Also the distance we would have to travel would be approx 34 miles round trip just to pick up a prescription!