Save Our Pharmacies!

What happened on NPA day?

NPA Day was on the 20^th of June 2024. Pharmacies nationwide joined in petitioning for increased funding for community pharmacies so we can do more for our patients.  Many more local pharmacies are on the brink of closing forever due to insufficient funding. You might have noticed that the lights were turned off in your local pharmacy during the morning on the day of action. Thankfully we can our lights on (at least for now) but the same cannot be said for over 1300 other pharmacies that simply don’t receive enough NHS funding to survive. Since 2017, over 1,300 pharmacies have permanently closed. That figure is growing daily, and the rate of closure will only accelerate unless we improve government funding. Worse still this disproportionately affects our poorer communities, leaving those most needing support from a local pharmacy with nowhere to go. Another feature of NPA day was that all pharmacy workers wore black to express the extent of the dark times community pharmacy is facing.

Recently, the new Pharmacy First service was introduced to community pharmacies. Our patients love it, and it has proven to be a massive success. Pharmacies nationwide have already provided over 500,000 Pharmacy First services (that means 500,000 GP appointments freed up) But it also means there’s a huge increase in workload on community pharmacies. All of this is without the necessary increase in funding to support the service.

Our pharmacy also had blacked-out windows on the day of action. A peculiar sight for our patients but the aim was to represent the real possibility that our pharmacy could also close forever. How much would this impact our local community?

Why does pharmacy funding need to be improved?

Pharmacies are becoming ever more integral to healthcare. We are the first points of call when health advice is needed and for prescriptions. But medication is not cheap, and all pharmacies are struggling to supply medicine for our patients. We are often actually losing money when dispensing our prescriptions because the NHS refuses to pay us the cost of the medicines we supply to patients. Sufficient funding will mean that patients can visit local pharmacies confident in the knowledge that the life-saving medication they need will be readily available. Financial problems have only worsened due to inflation which is another cause for many permanent closures over recent years. Lack of funding has prevented some pharmacies from providing essential NHS services that patients need. These pharmacies can simply not afford to provide these services at a loss.

What is the problem facing community pharmacy?

Community pharmacy is between a rock and a hard place. Community pharmacies receive at least 90% of their income from the NHS. But unlike general practice, pharmacy funding is not increased year-by-year. The funding we receive does not consider, staffing, increased fuel costs or inflation. Thus, there has been an overall decrease in funding of around 40% since 2015 instead of the increase that we so desperately need if the nation’s community pharmacies are to continue. Making matters worse, pharmacies (unlike other businesses) cannot simply increase the price of medications to combat the rising cost of inflation. We don’t set the prices of the prescribed medicines we supply to you; the government does. This is why we actually make a loss on some of the NHS prescriptions we dispense. We source and pay for the medicines, yet the government regularly refuses to pay us back what it costs us to purchase the medicines we dispense.

This makes addressing our funding crisis ever more crucial.  Due to all these factors (and more), there’s a perfect storm leaving many pharmacies working in permanent “crisis mode.” We’re cutting back opening hours and delivery services as well as many other services that we would otherwise offer simply in an attempt to survive. As 1000s of pharmacies disappear and the surviving ones cut back this leaves patients forced to visit GPs and even hospital A&E departments in desperation. But those services are far more expensive than community pharmacies. In short, forcing ever more pharmacies to close simply drives up NHS costs. The knock-on effect damages health services at a time when people are already struggling to see a GP and are waiting many hours for an A&E appointment. All of this is at a time when the NHS is becoming ever more reliant on pharmacies to provide more services such as Pharmacy First.

The NPA could be community pharmacies' last hope

The NPA are a stalwart advocate of community pharmacies who have been vocal about the need for increased funding. Paul Rees the CEO of the NPA has been leading the charge, through persistent media coverage and petitions to the government. The NPA has been attempting by any avenue to get the message through to government officials that community pharmacy is on the brink. NPA’s day of action is a desperate attempt to raise public awareness about the state of community pharmacy. Public support to #saveourpharmacies may be our last hope.

Ideally, we would copy the junior doctors and protest our current funding with a more impactful protest, for example by striking.  But due to the critical nature of what pharmacies provide, and the moral obligation of pharmacy teams, this will never happen. Pharmacists cannot, even for the sake of adequate funding, stand by whilst depriving people of the health services they rely upon. Like our day of action, those working at pharmacies will continue to work right up to the day when the lights turn out and the doors close for good.

What can I do to help?

We appeal to our patients to write letters to MPs (Members of Parliament) that will make the case for increased funding for community pharmacies. The government are simply increasing the workload of pharmacies without the funding needed to support these new services. Posting on social media #saveourpharmacies and making lots of noise about the issue are all ways that you can help us get the funding that we need to keep the nation’s community pharmacies open.  Without more funding, we risk losing these pharmacies altogether. Without strong public support, the government might still not provide the much-needed funding. 

Conclusion

Community pharmacies have reached the point of no return. Urgent action is required to keep them in business, so patients can receive excellent healthcare at an affordable price. Without action, we risk losing community pharmacies and all the benefits that come with them. Reducing services for patients and longer wait times for patients to receive medications just result in further pressure on the rest of the NHS. We face the prospect of even longer waits to see a GP. Without sufficient funding, the impact of losing 1000s more community pharmacies will be severe.  The potential for Community Pharmacies to do more is huge. Pharmacy First is just the first step. But we must do our part to ensure adequate funding for pharmacies to prevent a further backward slide after all we have achieved during Covid and since.



Pleas to government officials and posts online about the current state of funding can help encourage the government to fund community pharmacies properly. Letchworth Pharmacy and the NPA rely on your support. We all know what happened with the Post Office so please don’t ignore the problem until it's too late. Please do whatever you can to support us either online or by campaigning with the NPA to achieve better funding for pharmacies.