2,000 jobs at risk as Lloyds Pharmacy closes its supermarket stores

Lloyds Pharmacy is removing its services out of all Sainsbury’s supermarkets, placing 2,000 jobs at risk.

The Coventry-firm is pulling out of 237 stores this year due to “changing market conditions”.

It’s parent firm Celesio had purchased Sainsury’s pharmacy network in 2015 for £125m, resulting in 2,500 staff transferring to Lloyds.

Individual branches will now be put up for sale with the company “working with colleagues potentially affected by the changes and has underlined its commitment to support them through the process”.

Kevin Birch, chief executive of Lloyds Pharmacy, said: “This decision has not been an easy one and we understand that our patients and customers may have questions about how the change will affect them.

“We would like to thank them for their continued support and assure them that we are committed to providing a smooth transition over the coming months.”

Nigel Swift, deputy managing director at pharmacy group Phoenix UK, said: “This announcement is the clearest possible sign of the dire situation facing community pharmacy in England as a result of insufficient government funding.

“Since the start of the pharmacy contract there has been a massive cut in real-term funding resulting in hundreds of closures. This has to be a wake-up call for government.”