Pharmacy opening hours cut because of staff shortages

ALMOST a fifth of pharmacies will be forced to cut their opening hours, reducing patient access to prescriptions, owing to a shortfall of 3,000 pharmacists.

Vacancy rates have more than doubled between 2017 and last year, according to data compiled by the Company Chemists Association (CCA).

Although official statistics show an increase in the number of pharmacists overall, this hides the “true picture” of the shortages, according to the trade body, which represents 5,500 pharmacies across the UK.

In 2019 the NHS pledged to recruit 6,000 pharmacists to Primary Care Networks (PCNs) over the next five years, around 2,400 community pharmacists have been recruited into PCNs since.

But this has put “significant pressure” on the pharmacists who chose to stay, the CCA said, with more choosing to go part-time, in many cases because of exhaustion and burnout.

The CCA is calling on the Government and NHS to urgently deliver a workforce plan or patients will face long wait times and pharmacy closures.

There are about 11,700 pharmacies in England, so almost a fifth (17 per cent) of all pharmacies could cut their opening hours a month.

Malcolm Harrison, head of the CCA said: “If the Government does not address the workforce crisis, [patients] may face increased waiting times.

“The impact of the workforce crisis is likely to hit rural communities hardest.”

The Department of Health and Social Care was approached for comment.