Pharmacy is under severe strain, time for the government to back those who put patients first

Healthcare is one of the most crucial sectors in the UK accounting for over £290 billion, around 10% of the GDP for the entire country.

Despite this, however, many businesses operating in the healthcare sector are currently in favour of an urgent cash injection from the government. The figures make for sobering reading with over 65% of pharmacies operating at a loss and a bleak forecast that one in six might shut their doors for good within the next year.

Business costs have soared in the last two years and combined with a funding cut of around 30% in real terms over the last decade this has left many pharmacies struggling to make ends meet.

In real terms, these issues affect those who we wish to help the most - our patients.

As the expenditure rises, income doesn’t always follow meaning that pharmacy staff have to work even harder. However, despite their best efforts they report that this has an impact on some of the valuable face time that they can give to their patients.

Longer prescription dispensing times have been an issue across the board as this then creates a domino effect on responding to patient enquiries. This then means that when a patient is actually in store there is less time for a pharmacist to spend with a patient discussing their health issues.

A majority of pharmacies in the UK rely heavily on NHS funding to account for 90% plus of income to the store. As mentioned above, that figure has been steadily cut in real terms by around 30% despite an expectation of more public services being provided.

Pharmacy owners are experiencing sleepless nights worrying about how to best try to continue operating despite the threats to their business. Many admit that they consistently face making hard decisions weighing up their personal feelings against a balance sheet.

Pharmacists across the country who operate their stores have admitted to overstaffing at times to try and redress situations with patients. However, when they talk to me, they concede that this won’t be possible forever unless there is some financial help offered by Keir Starmer’s government to the health sector. Healthcare workers and particularly those in pharmacies concede they are feeling burnt out and have done for months.

The lack of true reimbursement has prevented pharmacists from fully being able to thrive in their jobs as they wrestle with their conscience over dispensing medicine at a loss.

Currently, the number of pharmacies operating in England is at an almost twenty year low and looks set to fall rather than rise unless Sir Keir’s Government acts quickly to inject some much-needed cash into the sector.

Pharmacies were on the front line during extraordinary times including the two-year pandemic of Covid-19, it is time now for the prime minister to offer his support to ensure that the pharmacy sector doesn’t disintegrate in the next decade.

In particular, I would like to see the government and NHS offer their help not only financially but by listening to those in the sector who know it best. It would be welcomed if the Labour party invested in the future of community pharmacy as well as offering short term relief to allow for pharmacies to get back on an even keel.

A pharmacy is the cornerstone of society in many towns across the UK and both those working in the sector and our patients want us to be around for generations to come.

It is vital that the Government ensures this is the case as pharmacies offer tandem support with so many other areas of healthcare through a variety of programmes including Pharmacy First.

The new contract in England has to provide the injection of cash the sector desperately requires. Pharmacy has always put patients first. The Government and NHS must recognise this and fund the sector sufficiently to secure it’s future. Ultimately it is patients who will suffer most if this doesn’t happen.