Campus pharmacy to stay open
The pharmacy in Warwick’s SU Atrium will remain open after the proposed closure in March led students to protest with a written petition.
***UPDATE: Martina Ellery, head of primary care for NHS Warwickshire stated: “Following negotiations with West Midlands and the pharmacy provider it has been agreed that M W Philips pharmacy based on the campus will continue to remain on site.
“As part of these negotiations it has been agreed that the pharmacy will be open outside of term time. We are pleased with this outcome as we acknowledge the pharmacy provides a good service to students of care and we are pleased that the service provision will continue to develop.”
Peter Dunn, director of press and policy at Warwick added: “The University is continuing to talk with the current operators of the pharmacy to explore ways of keeping it open on campus.”
M W Philips Chemists faced closure when the local NHS Area Team announced that they felt the pharmacy was not being used frequently enough and that the campus was well provided with other pharmacies within a close proximity of the University.
Isaac Leigh, societies officer of the Students’ Union explained that the students were shocked when they found that the pharmacy was going to be closed, “It is a vital service for our students, particularly disabled students and those with specific medical needs.
“We called a town hall meeting which was attended by a large number of students, and began a petition directed to the local Area Team which attracted over 1,550 signatures.”
The petition listed factors such as, over 6000 students live on campus, a substantial number of these students are students with a disability and therefore rely on the nearness of the pharmacy.
In addition, while alternative pharmacies may be a mile away, this distance is further, “in practical terms”. The petition noted that many students do not have vehicles and that some accommodation buildings are more than two miles away from the pharmacy, which is a longer distance to run when ill or requiring an emergency prescription.
Mr Leigh explained that the role of the students involved raising awareness by communicating the consequences of losing the pharmacy.
He acknowledges that Warwick University were helpful with the campaign as they supported the students and attended the local NHS Area meeting to argue the case.
“We met some initial resistance from the NHS Area Team who argued that the pharmacy was not generating enough profit, but we argued that decisions like this should not be made based on profit, but on medical need and accessibility grounds.
“Students were absolutely pivotal in identifying the ways in which they would be affected, and presenting a clear and coherent argument for why the pharmacy should stay. The success of this campaign shows that we really can make a difference as a student body when we use our collective voice, and we want to replicate this throughout the year.”
Josna Banerjee Palmer, a first-year English literature student said: “Being ill is time consuming as it is, so moving the pharmacy off campus would have been impractical for everyone.
“As one of thousands who live with an invisible disability I am constantly under pressure to keep myself out of hospital.”
An anonymous second-year student added: “I have only used it once at Warwick, to get the morning after pill. That time I called all of the nearby places including Canon park and even a walk-in centre in Coventry, all of who did not stock the particular pill I needed and could not get it within the time frame I needed for it to be effective.
“Getting it from the pharmacy meant I had to pay but just the availability put me so much more at ease and averted what could have been a much bigger problem that would have cost the NHS much more money to handle.”
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