A STOCKTON Heath pharmacy is to close early in the new year.

Lloyds Pharmacy, based at the Forge Shopping Centre in the village, will shut on January 8.

Customers have been contacted this week to tell them the decision.

The nearest Lloyds Pharmacy will now be in Earl Street, Orford and residents have also been told they can continue to have their prescriptions posted to them.

A spokesman said: "We can confirm that the Stockton Heath LloydsPharmacy will unfortunately close to customers on Friday, January 8.

"We don’t take the decision lightly to close any pharmacy, but the world of healthcare and patient behaviour is changing, and market conditions have been challenging for some time now. 

"We are sorry to have to close this store, but it is not financially viable for us to keep it open any longer.

"As part of our decision-making process, we have looked at other community pharmacy provision in the area (for instance our branch on Earl Street) with a view to mitigating the impact on patients as much as possible.

"Some people may also want to look at online options such as our repeat prescription service which comes with free delivery. 

"We fully understand the impact of this change, especially for people that have been customers for a long period of time.

"We would like to reassure our patients that we will be doing all that we can to support a smooth transition and ensure continuity of their medicines and care. We will also be supporting our colleagues at this difficult time and redeploying members of the team where possible to other roles in the business where suitable vacancies exist."