IT is a worrying time for staff at pharmaceutical firmWaymade Healthcare with news they could soon be put at risk by the company’s new owners.

Waymade has been a real south Essex business success story which saw it rise from humble beginnings in the mid Eighties to become a multimillion pound company.

Started by Benfleet millionaires Vijay and Bhikhu Patel, its future has been uncertain ever since it was sold to the B&S Group at the start of this year.

The new owners claim no decision on the company’s future in Basildon has been decided, but with reports they have previously described parts of the business as being “not economically viable” and with them now starting to enter a 45-day consultation over possible redundancies, the concerns have increased.

A senior Basildon councillor is right to be worried when he talks of any possible closure of Waymade being a huge loss to the town and the wider south Essex economy.

With a general election on the horizon, claim and counter claim has already begun on whether the financial future of Britain is safe or at risk, but it is certain that whatever statistics are rolled out it is of no comfort to those staff who may soon find themselves unemployed.

Everything must be done to try to secure the future of the firm and the job prospects of those employees who built it into the success story it was.

Questions will undoubtedly follow into what has happened to put it into this situation, but let’s hope a solution can be found.