Pressing motion wanted as homeowners desperately ‘remortgage houses and raid pension pots’ to remain open
Pharmacies say they’re dealing with a disaster on Sir Keir Starmer’s watch (Picture: Getty)
Two-thirds of pharmacies are at risk of “imminent closure”, with homeowners “remortgaging their very own houses or raiding pension pots” to remain open. Hundreds of pharmacies throughout England have joined forces to inform Well being Secretary Wes Streeting they might have to chop companies inside weeks except he takes pressing motion.
Already struggling pharmacies face “a cliff fringe of price rises”, together with the problem of paying greater enterprise charges and an elevated minimal wage from April. The letter from 3,200 impartial pharmacies describes the “determined scenario we face on the entrance line of the NHS”. They warn Mr Streeting: “Our pharmacies are in excessive streets, in villages, in communities and collectively we see thousands and thousands of sufferers – your voters – day-after-day.”
The pharmacists, who serve an estimated 15.5million sufferers, declare there’s a hole of greater than £2billion between NHS funding and the price of working a pharmacy.
“Lives depend upon our service,” they write.
“Our pharmacies are routinely subsidising NHS prescriptions – regardless of our work to save lots of the NHS billions by driving down drugs costs. That’s merely not proper.”
The letter comes on the heels of a survey by the Nationwide Pharmacy Affiliation (NPA), which discovered that about two out of three pharmacies operated at a loss final yr.
The NPA claims eight pharmacies closed in England in January, with 95% telling the affiliation they don’t seem to be able financially to assist the Authorities’s ambitions to maneuver care into the neighborhood.
Olivier Picard, who chairs the NPA, mentioned: “The truth that so many pharmacies function at a loss ought to set off critical alarm bells in Authorities in regards to the stability of medication provide on which thousands and thousands of individuals rely.
“Pharmacies serving thousands and thousands of sufferers are at actual threat of closure as a tsunami of recent prices arrive, and are confronted with agonising choices about how they’ll proceed.
“With out pressing motion, thousands and thousands of sufferers threat dropping essentially the most accessible a part of the NHS – their native pharmacy. That is now a query of affected person entry and NHS resilience, not simply pharmacy funding.”
“This yr, we elevated neighborhood pharmacy funding to £3.1billion, which is the biggest uplift for any a part of the NHS during the last two years. This can assist us give sufferers extra care nearer to dwelling, releasing up GP appointments.
“Pharmacies are central to our shift in the direction of community-based care, with companies like free contraceptive consultations already reaching over 660,000 within the 12 months as much as August 2025 – a 300% enhance from the yr earlier than.”
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