‘We are struggling to find morale to keep going’
16:31, 22 Sep 2025Updated 17:03, 22 Sep 2025
The Jhoots pharmacy in Aberystwyth(Image: Google)
Staff at a struggling pharmacy chain say they are owed months of pay without explanation. There are 153 Jhoots pharmacies across the UK and many are reported to be battling crises including long-delayed wages, inadequate stock and unexplained closures.
An employee from one of the six Welsh branches told WalesOnline: “Myself and other members of staff are waiting on two months of wages that the company keeps making false promises of when we will receive payment. We have just finished our 11th week out of operation due to no stock being delivered in eight weeks and no pharmacist for five weeks.”
Jhoots — which has branches in Cardiff, Newport, Caerphilly, Bridgend, Swansea and Aberystwyth — was fiercely criticised last week by North Somerset MP Sadik Al Hassan who called for the chain to be shut down.
He told the BBC the “shocking” situation had left patients struggling to get prescriptions as branches were regularly and unexpectedly closed, or open with low stock. For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter here.
Our source said the same “chaos” is plaguing the Welsh pharmacies, adding: “Our door is still open and we are able to sell items on the shelves, but nothing behind the cabinets. We cannot dispense any medication without a pharmacist on premises.
“We cannot provide vital services and medications to our patients, and it is causing much stress for the surrounding pharmacies who are overwhelmed with taking on our workload. We have had no official confirmation from HR as to why our only supplier has suspended [deliveries].”
Freelance pharmacists who have worked at Jhoots branches run by Sarbjit Jhooty are owed £670,000 in unpaid fees, according to the Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) union.
All 153 Jhoots pharmacies are owned, at least in part, by either Sarbjit or Manjit Jhooty. The latter, who owns around 20 branches, said the trading name Jhoots is used by multiple independent companies.
Manjit — who told us the company responsible for the Welsh branches is run by Sarbjit Jhooty and Nilam Patel — said he recognised “the seriousness of the issues raised and the impact on staff, patients, and local NHS services”.
He added: “It is important that you receive accurate and timely information from the directors responsible, and we trust they will respond to your request as a matter of urgency.”
The employee in Wales said their pharmacy used to take on 10,000 of the 18,000 items their local GP surgery prescribes each month, but has been unable to do so without a pharmacist.
“Many weekly patients are vulnerable people who take great comfort in routinely attending our pharmacy to collect their prescriptions, confident that we were able to have their medication ready on the same day for collection each week,” they said. “These people have found it incredibly difficult to move pharmacies.
“Our issue is that despite communicating with HR, there is no response as to how or when the situation will be resolved. We the staff must remain on premises or are threatened with disciplinary action for ‘gross misconduct’.
“The company, however, has not paid us our full July wages that were due on August 15. Three days late, four out of five members of staff received exactly half of our monthly wage. The remaining member of staff has received nothing.
“HR emailed us to say we’d receive our wages five to seven days later but we received nothing. Our August wages were due on September 15 but we received nothing.
“We are struggling to find morale to keep going. Our mental wellbeing is struggling as we know we must be on premises without knowing if we are even getting paid for it.”
WalesOnline has seen an email from Jhoots HR warning staff that failing to turn up for work would be “gross misconduct” despite their missing wages.
Sarbjit Jhooty has yet to respond to our enquiry but last week he responded to a BBC enquiry about issues in the south-west of England. He said he was working to return things to normal “as swiftly as possible”.
Swindon South MP Heidi Alexander has criticised the management of a branch in the town, hitting out at “repeated closures, no pharmacists, unanswered calls, empty shelves”.
Mr Al Hassan, who is due to meet Jhoots bosses this month, called for the NHS to strip the chain of its contracts in his constituency.
He told the BBC: “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.”
In Sarbjit Jhooty’s response to the BBC he blamed “workforce and recruitment challenges” for his branches’ issues. He said: “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.”
The NHS has the power to strip contracts from pharmacies. Should any of the Welsh health boards decide to take action against a Jhoots pharmacy, they have the option of “performance-related sanctions” or simply swapping in a new contractor, the Welsh Government told us.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are aware of the issues affecting six Jhoots pharmacies in Wales. Whilst we set the direction for health services in Wales and hold the NHS to account, local health boards in Wales are responsible for commissioning and managing any concerns regarding pharmaceutical services in their area.”
Manjit Jhooty said his branches — none of which are in Wales — remain “fully functional and continue to deliver services to the communities they serve”.
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