PHARMACIES ON THE BRINK

Tsunami of closures feared due to ‘£1.2bn shortfall’

MORE than 400 local chemists in England have shut in five years, piling pressure on overstretched GPs, analysis shows.

This led to 2.5 million more GP appointments, said the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies.

And it warned a £1.2billion funding shortfall will mean a “tsunami of further pharmacy closures”.

Today AIMP launches its Fight4Pharmacies campaign, urging Government investment in community pharmacy. The Mirror is also fighting for local chemists.

AIMP’s Dr Leyla Hannbeck said: “The loss of community pharmacies results in even more pressure piling on hard-pressed GP surgeries.” She said chemists heroically work excessive hours to help patients, but they are falling into debt and unsure whether they can keep going. Some 90% of pharmacies’ incomes is from the NHS and seven weeks ago the NHS launched its Pharmacy First plan. This was to encourage patients with seven common conditions to seek help from a chemist instead of their doctor, freeing up GPs. But the AIMP said the five-year funding agreement in England failed to account for inflation. So the £2.6bn-per-year deal has meant a realterms funding cut yearon-year, leading to a shortfall of £1.2bn for pharmacies. Dr Hannbeck said: “Chronic underfunding, medicine supply challenges and a dysfunctional reimbursement system have created the perfect storm of pharmacy closures. “If we continue, we risk creating a tsunami of further pharmacy closures.” The Department of Health said it did not recognise the figures. A spokeswoman said up to £645million was available to support the expansion of community pharmacy services. Pharmacy First will free up an anticipated 10 million GP appointments a year, she added.