Growing alarm over winter

The imminent onset of winter has brought with it mounting alarm about how the county’s health services will cope.

West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group’s board was told the area is lagging behind many others in the uptake of flu vaccinations – which last year were particularly low among children of school age.

Many hospitals, including those under Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, experienced unprecedented demand this summer and are putting robust plans in place to cope with winter needs.

Ian Ayres, West Kent CCG’s accountable officer, said: “The NHS system is increasingly concerned about this winter, the pressure on the primary and secondary care during the period, and that concern is escalating by the day. There is more concern in the system about this winter than I have seen for many years.”

Kent chemists face an uncertain future after Lloyds Pharmacy revealed it would cease trading at almost 200 stores across England.

Celesio UK, which owns the brand, blamed the closure of 190 of its least successful stores on NHS funding and reimbursement cuts to chemists over the past two years.

There are about 50 Lloyds Pharmacy outlets across Kent and Medway, a small percentage of the estimated 1,500 stores across the country. The news came to light when a copy of a letter to staff from managing director Cormac Tobin was leaked. It is not known which pharmacies will be affected.