One of the UK's biggest pharmacy chains has been threatened with legal action for snap closures which are said to have compromised patient care.
In a letter seen by the Herald, NHS Tayside states that it intends to refer Lloyds to an NHS tribunal for repeatedly failing to comply with pharmacy regulations on contracted hours.
The Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) say hundreds of temporary closures are occurring each month in Scotland and are disproportionately affecting deprived areas. The majority affected are Lloyds owned.
The company operates more than 1,400 pharmacies across the UK and says the closures are due to staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic and said it is working with NHS Tayside to resolve the situation.
However, the PDA said independent pharmacies had been able to retain enough staff to continue to operate and blamed poorer working conditions for the problem.
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Health boards are entitled to refer pharmacies to an NHS tribunal on the basis that continued inclusion "would be prejudicial to the efficiency of services which those included on the list perform".
The letter, from Jane Robbins, general manager of primary care services, states that the closures have resulted in some patients being able to receive the pharmaceutical services needed "to maintain their health".
It goes on to say: "I write to advise you of the Board's intention to refer Lloyds Pharmacy to a Tribunal in the event that your services continue to be inadequate".
The PDA say pharmacy workloads intensify in December and this has increased due to the admin of distributing lateral flow test kits.
Some health boards are also recruiting pharmacists as vaccinators and the emergence of the Omicron variant may lead to worsening staff shortages.
Data shows eight branches were closed at different times in July in areas including Perth, Dundee, Kirriemuir, Montrose, Auchterarder and Montrose.
Over six weeks in June and July there were 42 closures in the Tayside area of which 32 were Lloyds chemists.
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Maurice Hickey, Head of Police at PDA Scotland said: "We believe that this is not indicative of a shortage of pharmacists, neither do we accept that the pandemic can be used as an explanation.
"Many pharmacists tell us that the working conditions are a factor in where they chose to work, and that under-investment in systems, staffing and premises are all factors that deter pharmacists from opting to work for some pharmacy companies.
"Some locum pharmacists have reported to the PDA that they have offered to work in a particular pharmacy, however despite their availability the company has subsequently closed rather than engage them."
The PDA asked all 14 Scottish health boards how many times pharmacies were closed during their contracted hours from June 1 to August 31 this year.
A minimum of 574 closures were identified in the freedom of information requests.
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In July alone there were 338 confirmed temporary pharmacy closuresand 331 (98%) were in pharmacies owned by UK multiple pharmacy chains headquartered in England such as Lloyds, Boots, Well, Rowlands and some supermarkets.
Only seven occurred in Scottish owned pharmacies; three in small pharmacy chains and four in independently owned pharmacies).
The majority of closures were concentrated in urban areas, particularly in those neighbourhoods’ which have higher incidences of poverty - 37.0% of confirmed closures were in Lothian, 19.5% of closures were in Fife, and 12.1% were in Ayrshire.
Lloyds was esponsible for 56.6% of closures and this was seen in all the larger health boards.
They were responsible for 81.0% of reported closures in Tayside, 68.2% in Fife and 76.8% in Forth Valley.
The PDA has suggested that health boards should take over the running of poorly performing community pharmacies and said NHS Tayside could set an example.
Mr Hickey said:"We believe that they (Lloyds) will probably react initially by taking staff away from another health board area, simply curing one local difficulty by worsening another one somewhere else.
"We also think that this letter may be a ‘warning shot’ fired by one health board on behalf of the others, or a sort of test case on taken on behalf of the Scottish Health Directorate"
A spokeswoman for Lloyds said: “Lloyds Pharmacy is currently in discussions with NHS Tayside; these conversations are confidential, and we are working hard to come to a mutually satisfactory conclusion."
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