Allied Pharmacies has announced that it has taken over management of 60 Jhoots Pharmacy outlets in various parts of the country.
The Walsall-based pharmacy chain has been struggling to keep its stores open and is facing official scrutiny over alleged non-payment of wages to the staff and locums.
Last month, Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said in Parliament that Jhoots Pharmacy's services were poor and warned that its outlets could lose the right to dispense NHS prescriptions.
There have been repeated cases of Jhoots branches closing on certain days in various parts of the country due to staff shortages or medicine shortages.
Allied Pharmacies stated that it has taken over the management of 60 Jhoots' pharmacies.
"While the majority of these locations are temporarily closed, we are fully committed to reinstating essential pharmacy services."
"We recognise the fundamental role that community pharmacies play in supporting public health and wellbeing and understand the disruption caused by these closures, particularly for vulnerable groups who depend on local access to vital healthcare services. Our immediate priority is to resume Pharmaceutical Services as soon as possible for these sites."
However, the St Helens, Merseyside-based pharmacy group also pointed out that the community pharmacy sector was facing financial stress.
"While a variety of factors may have contributed to the difficulties at Jhoots Pharmacy Limited, systemic underfunding for almost a decade has placed immense strain on many operators."
Allied Pharmacies said that without "meaningful intervention at a national level, the collapse of other significant providers – as seen previously with Lloyds, and now Jhoots – could continue to affect patient care and the viability of community pharmacies nationwide."
The company assured the employees that it would take steps to clear the salary arrears of the staff.
"We would also encourage Locum Pharmacist contractors who have worked with any of these branches, to contact the Jhoots administrators," it added.
All the 151 Jhoots branches are owned, at least in part, by either Sarbjit or Manjit Jhooty.
The financial mismanagement only relates to the pharmacies under the ownership and operation of Sarbjit Jhooty, who runs 129 outlets.
Manjit Jhooty, Director of Jhoots Healthcare Ltd and Pasab Ltd, owns and operates 21 pharmacies.
