Four GP landlords who closed a pharmacy that was based in a health centre in Exeter terminated the lease without notice and have jeopardised the safety of patients as a result, a director at the branch has claimed.

GPs at South Lawn Medical Practice and The Heavitree Practice, the landlords at Heavitree Health Centre where the pharmacy was situated, said yesterday they had “to make the difficult decision to lock the doors” of the branch of Allied Pharmacies but were “working hard to contact all patients that are impacted.”

A statement on the websites of South Lawn Medical Practice and The Heavitree Practice said: “We are disappointed at the loss of an on-site pharmacy and are working hard to remedy this.”

They urged patients who “have any issues” with their prescriptions to contact another branch of Allied Pharmacies in nearby Fore Street and provided a number to call.

A notice dated January 14 which appeared in the window of the health centre said it was owned by four GPs who it identified as Phillip Annetts, Jonathan Richold, Andrew Barker and Katherine Ball.

The notice warned: “Any attempt to enter these premises without the written authority of the above-named landlord will result in criminal/civil proceedings being taken.”

According to DevonLive, Allied Pharmacies’ financial director Suhail Sharief claimed they terminated the lease “without notice” despite a promise by the practice manager that there would be one.

Sharief was also quoted as saying Allied Pharmacies tried to keep the pharmacy open and offered to pay the rent arrears.

Pharmacy: We needed to close because of 'extortionate rent demands'

Last year, Allied Pharmacies told the NHS it intended to close the pharmacy because of what it described as “extortionate rent demands.”

It also applied to merge the pharmacy with its branch in Fore Street, which prompted a resident to start a petition aimed at stopping the relocation of the health centre pharmacy.

The petition said the relocation was “especially concerning” for “disabled and vulnerable” patients because access to the pharmacy in Fore Street was difficult.

However, Sharief told DevonLive Allied Pharmacies decided not to proceed with the merger and had secured “some external funding to keep both pharmacies open.”

“We made that clear to the surgery but instead there was no response to our compromise and the lease was simply forfeitured and the locks changed,” Sharief said, warning there was a “significant chance” a patient will suffer because of the pharmacy’s closure.

In a statement, the landlords said the care of its patients “is of the utmost priority” and insisted they had “spent significant time in the last days and weeks ensuring no patients are harmed or disadvantaged by the pharmacy closure.”

They promised to ensure “patients can access their medications in a timely and safe way that is convenient to them.”

Independent Community Pharmacist has contacted the GPs for a further response.