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Prime minister Keir Starmer has told Parliament that ministers are “working speedily to consider how to strengthen regulation” of pharmacies, in light of the situation regarding Jhoots Pharmacy.
Speaking during prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on 12 November 2025 — in reference to reports of unexpected closures, poor service and allegations that locum staff have not been paid at some Jhoots pharmacy branches — Edward Morello, MP for West Dorset, asked how “unfit business owners” have been allowed to fail in operating NHS-contracted pharmacies.
Morello also asked if the prime minister would “make time in the parliamentary schedule for emergency legislation to give the government and the regulators powers to pay staff, tackle improper pharmacy owners and directors, and make sure scandals like this can never happen again”.
In response, Starmer said: “It is simply not right that customers and staff have been so badly let down.
“The health and social care minister has convened representatives from across the industry to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, and I want to reassure [Morello] that we are working speedily to consider how to strengthen regulation of these pharmacies, and I will update the House [of Commons] as soon as I can.”
The prime minister’s commitment follows an announcement from Allied Pharmacies on 7 November 2025 that it has taken over the management of 60 Jhoots pharmacies across England.
In October 2025, Sarbjit Jhooty, acquisitions director at Jhoots Pharmacy, exclusively told The Pharmaceutical Journal that he was selling and re-mortgaging stores in order to pay staff wages and rent.
The sales were to include the disposal of 30 stores, with Jhooty adding that he would sell more if necessary.
The multiple has also faced enforcement action from the General Pharmaceutical Council.
