By Karen Evans

Last updated at 12:47, Wednesday, 25 July 2012

A pharmacy which will take over Mills Papershop in the Moorclose shopping precinct in Workington will only service drug users from that area with a methadone service, its owners have said.

Saeed Ltd Chemist chain, which will transform the papershop on Westfield Drive, reassured residents at a Neighbourhood Forum meeting last night that drug users would be supervised when taking their prescription on site.

Zubair Malik, partner of the chain, said that they would be taken into a private consultation area within the chemist to take their medication.

He added that any trouble would be reported to the NHS where users’ medication would be stopped or they would be asked to attend another pharmacy to take their medication.

In June residents raised concerns that the service would lead to drug users congregating outside and causing a nuisance when they came to collect their medication.

Mr Malik said: “I will treat those patients with the same level of respect as I treat all my patients.

“I want to help those people and to help them move forward with their lives and offering this service will help them do this.

“The service will only be offered to people living in the Moorclose area, not the whole of Workington.”

Alison Bragg, of Glen Road, whose house backs onto the building, said: “I’m concerned about my property and whether it’s going to be protected. I’m worried about people hanging around and resorting to wratching around in the bins if they’re unable to get their prescriptions.”

Mr Malik insisted that the new pharmacy would be a benefit to the community – particularly to the elderly, the disabled and those without cars – by providing Moorclose with its only chemist.

He added that the paper shop’s eight shop workers would be offered the chance to stay on and put through NVQ training.

Services such as selling papers and a Paypoint would remain.

Mr Malik added: “We cannot reinstate some of the services which were lost such as selling alcohol, cigarettes or lottery tickets because it would be unethical of a pharmacy to do this but we have reinstated some.”

Shopworkers found out back in June that the papershop owned by Tesco’s One Stop was to be sold.

The new owners said at the time that extensive market research was carried out for the need for a pharmacy on the estate, with 400 surveys sent to households with nearly all of them in support of the proposal. A 200-signature petition had also been completed in support.

An original application by Saeed Anani Sarab, one of the partners, was turned down by primary care trust NHS Cumbria which said there were already too many pharmacies in Workington. But it got the go-ahead following an appeal.

First published at 11:26, Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk