A pharmacy chain has serious questions to answer over allegations of financial mismanagement, according to MP Sadik Al Hassan.

Locum pharmacists who have worked at Jhoots Pharmacies run by Sarbjit Jhooty are owed £670,000 in unpaid fees, according to union Pharmacists Defence Association. There are about 150 Jhoots Pharmacies in the UK, of which 129 are run by Sarbjit.

Mr Al Hassan said the situation was “shocking”, with patients left struggling to get prescriptions as Jhoots branches were regularly and unexpectedly closed, or open with low stock.

Sarbjit said he was working to return things to normal “as swiftly as possible” while NHS representatives said they were working to resolve issues.

The Pharmacists Defence Association said the £670,000 was the total of outstanding fees that its locum members had told it was outstanding from Jhoots branches across the UK.

Unlike permanent employees, locum pharmacists operate in a freelance capacity and usually provide short-term cover.

One former Jhoots worker claims to be owned several thousand pounds after working at a branch in Somerset.

She asked to be kept anonymous, fearing speaking publicly may impact her claim for payment, and said: “[In] January they just seemed to stop paying us.”

She said she spoke to Sarbjit about the issues, and he referred her to HR. However, her emails to the department went unanswered.

“It’s been horrendous,” she said. “We’ve all fallen behind with all our bills, people have mortgages, car payments to pay.

“It’s affected us greatly, even down to being able to send my child to school with a packed lunch for the day. I wasn’t able to provide at points, having to borrow money off family members.

“It’s affected my mental health quite heavily.”

She said issues at the pharmacy also meant staff had to deal with “angry customers”.

“They weren’t getting their medication,” she explained. “Or they were being promised it and then it was being given to other patients, so then we were having to reorder the stock. It wasn’t pleasant.”

In Wiltshire, Swindon South MP Heidi Alexander is promoting a petition calling on Jhoots’ bosses to act after a branch in the town had regularly been closed.

She said there had been “repeated closures, no pharmacists, unanswered calls, empty shelves”.

“This isn’t just inconvenient. When people are unwell, it’s unsafe,” she added.

In Fishponds, Bristol, one branch was closed with a sign on the door blaming a lack of pharmacists.

Similarly in Somerset, a poster in the window of the closed Jhoots Pharmacy in Williton reads “no pharmacist today”.

Residents there told the BBC it had been consistently shut for three to four weeks.

“It’s impacted everybody around here,” said one resident, who said it had particularly impacted the older generation who had found it “very hard” to get their prescriptions.

Residents in Portishead have also seen a “massive decline” in the availability of pharmacy services, according to Mr Al Hassan.

The North Somerset MP, who used to be a pharmacist, said the situation was “unacceptable”.

“Jhoots are unreliably open, they don’t necessarily have common items of stock available for prescriptions and now one of them [in Portishead], on the Thursday before the last bank holiday, shuttered their doors and never reopened,” he added.

Across the UK there are 153 Jhoots pharmacies registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

All are owned, at least in part, by either Sarbjit or Manjit Jhooty.

Manjit, who owns more than 20 Jhoots branches through his companies Pasab and Jhoots Healthcare, said the trading name Jhoots was used by several, independent companies which each had their own management structure and procedures.

He said his branches remained “fully functional and continue to deliver services to the communities they serve”.

The allegations in this article relate to pharmacies managed by Sarbjit, who confirmed he operated independently from Manjit.

“While we share the name, Jhoots Pharmacy is an entirely separate and independent pharmacy,” Sarbjit said.

He admitted there had been issues at his pharmacies, and blamed “workforce and recruitment challenges” which he said had been a problem in the South West “for many years”.

“We are actively engaging with staff, local partners, and wider stakeholders to address these pressures and ensure that patient care and community services are supported in the long term,” he added.

Sarbjit did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment on allegations Jhoots staff had not been paid.

Mr Al Hassan is due to meet Jhoots bosses this month, but he said the NHS also needed to get a handle on the issues.

He said the health service could grant and take away NHS work from pharmacies and called on Jhoots to surrender its NHS contracts in his constituency.

“Even though that Jhoots [in Portishead] is closed, it still counts as having a pharmacy contract in the area,” he explained.

“In 2023, Jhoots bought another 40-odd pharmacies that were closing.

“They were allowed to do that despite their history of poor abilities to open their pharmacy or contract compliance.

“This level of contract management puts the entire reputation of pharmacy at risk, to allow an operator like this to continue,” he continued.

When approached for comment, NHS England directed the BBC to various NHS Integrated Care Boards in the South West which are responsible for managing pharmaceutical contracts on a local level.

In very similar statements, spokespeople for the care boards in North Somerset, Somerset and Swindon said they recognised the concern caused when pharmacies closed. They added they were “committed” to ensuring residents had access to alternative provision.

All said they could take formal action against pharmacies in breach of their contracts “where necessary”.