FALMOUTH will no longer have a late night pharmacy after news that Falmouth Health Centre's is going to close.

The Day Lewis Pharmacy in Trevaylor Road will shut on January 31 next year, with the nearest evening alternatives being in Truro or Helston.

Vicky Eva, who spotted the poster advertising the imminent closure at the health centre, said: "It's really disappointing, such a shame. I've only seen the poster at the centre saying that it's going to close and I really think people need to be made more aware of it.

"I used to be a support worker so I know there is a lot of older people who depend on the out of hours service. It is a major loss, not just to lose the evening hours but also during the daytime.

The nearest pharmacy available between 8pm and midnight will require a 40-mile round trip to Hayle, at the Boots store on Loggans Moor roundabout.

Vicky added: "I had to pick up a prescription from there once and after a 40-minute drive, I then had to wait 40 minutes to collect it because there was such a queue. Some people just won't be able to get there."

Pharmacies at Sainsbury's in Truro and Tesco's in Helston both close at 8pm, while Day Lewis' other Falmouth pharmacy in Killigrew Street closes at 6pm.

Rosie McDermott, south west regional manager for the company, said: "We absolutely did not want to close but Government funding has been so severely cut that we were left with no choice.

"We would have stayed open if we could, but the cuts are going on across the country. We're not the only ones to have been affected - it is not an isolated event."

Boots stores in Penzance and Hayle have closed in recent months and although Falmouth has several daytime alternatives to the health centre, none of them will be open during the evening.

Day Lewis at the health centre currently opens from 7am to midnight from Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.

"Our other pharmacy is in Killigrew Street and there are others in Boots, which is open on a Sunday, Superdrug and two independent pharmacies in Penryn," said Rosie.

"We'll always do what we can to help our patients, but this is very unfortunate and it is definitely not something that we wanted to do.

"We're already putting a plan in place to give them the best service possible and we will signpost it for our patients so they know exactly where they can go and when."