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The General Pharmaceutical Council issued improvement notices to five branches of Jhoots Pharmacy between February and August this year and revealed it is investigating individuals working for the chain.

Pharmacy’s regulator did not go into detail about what it described as “ongoing investigations relating to pharmacy professionals” employed by Jhoots but provided information about the branches it issued notices to.

In February, Jhoots Pharmacy in Malton, North Yorkshire, failed six standards covering governance and staff after a GPhC inspection while in March, a branch in Knott End, Blackpool, failed five standards around governance, staff and premises.

A Jhoots Pharmacy in Oldham failed 12 standards in April, a branch in Brierley Hill in the West Midlands failed three standards and a pharmacy in West Kirby failed nine standards. There are 153 Jhoots pharmacies in total.

PDA claims Jhoots owes staff £670,000 in unpaid wages

Reports have emerged in recent months that Jhoots pharmacies across England have closed with little warning, operated without a pharmacist on the premises and allegedly failed to pay locums. The Pharmacists’ Defence Association claimed the chain owes its staff £670,000 in unpaid wages.

The cabinet minister Heidi Alexander was due to meet with Jhoots Group chief executive Manjit Jhooty over concerns about service levels in Swindon while the Labour MP for North Somerset Sadik Al Hassan, who will also meet Jhoots’ officials this month, said the situation was “shocking”.

“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 told the BBC.

Jhooty said the 20 or so branches he owns through his companies Pasab Ltd and Jhoots Healthcare are “fully functional and continue to deliver services to the communities they serve”.

Independent Community Pharmacist understands the allegations of unpaid wages relate to pharmacies owned by Sarbjit Jhooty, who claimed “workforce and recruitment challenges” had made it difficult for his branches to operate efficiently. He runs 129 branches and insisted he operates them independently from Manjit Jhooty. ICP has contacted Sarbjit Jhooty for a response.

“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 told the BBC. 

In a statement, Jhoots Pharmacy said: “We are aware of recent media coverage regarding the Jhoots Pharmacy brand. We would like to clarify that Pasab Ltd and Jhoots Healthcare Ltd (t/a Jhoots Pharmacy) operate entirely independently from Jhoots Pharmacy Limited and its associated companies.

“While the trading style ‘Jhoots Pharmacy’ is shared, these organisations are separate and distinct. Our priority remains the wellbeing of our staff, patients, and the communities we serve. We are committed to ensuring that services across our branches continue to be delivered to the highest professional standards.”