KINGTON’S last remaining chemist’s shop has become the “talk of the town” as angry customers battle to get vital prescribed medication.

Rowlands’ High Street pharmacy failed to open for business last Friday and during part of Saturday opening hours, and by Monday morning the shop was packed with anxious customers queueing up for prescriptions.

With a drop-in counter staff numbers in recent months, the situation has been described as “appalling and dangerous”.

Four long-serving members of staff are said to have left, one man claiming that dispensers were having to travel in from Hereford, Leominster and even Birmingham.

“Staff are under so much pressure,” said 84-year-old Ken Lewis.

“The whole situation is not just appalling, it’s actually dangerous.”

A retired police officer and former chief education welfare officer for Herefordshire, Mr Lewis said he was dependent upon insulin prescriptions.

“I was very agitated as I am on a high dose but they were closed on Friday afternoon,” he said.

“It was closed on Saturday but they said they would deliver on Sunday.”

In a note, the pharmacy promised to deliver his prescription, but Mr Lewis was not at home, having been rushed into hospital.

He believed the former system had worked well, with staff familiar with customers’ needs.

“They had a good situation so why change it?” he asked.

“Knowing the people is the most important thing.” He asked why the company was unable to retain staff, and claimed a rapport between staff and customers had been lost.

“The pharmacy’s former ‘super-efficiency’ has since collapsed,” said Mr Lewis.

“I’m not blaming the staff but I am blaming those who are higher up.

“Things are going terribly wrong.”

Speaking on behalf of Rowlands, James Lindsay said: “We apologise to customers who use our Kington branch for the recent disruption to the service.”

Mr Lindsay explained there was a legal requirement for a qualified pharmacist to be on duty in order to provide dispensing services.

“If the pharmacist is unexpectedly not available for whatever reason – e.g illness or a family emergency – the pharmacy cannot provide pharmaceutical services until a replacement arrives,” he said.

A pharmacist was also forced to temporarily close a branch if insufficient members of staff were available, he said.

“In our Kington branch, several vacancies have arisen at the same time which, despite our best efforts, we are finding difficult to fill.”

A new member of staff will begin work at Kington on August 1.

“These are short-term measures while we seek longer-term solutions to the vacancies,” said Mr Lindsay.

“We would like to apologise to the people of Kington and reassure them that we are doing everything we can to rectify the situation.”