Worryingly, the reduction in pharmacy access has disproportionately affected deprived communities
Access to pharmacy care has significantly declined over the past two years, particularly in the most deprived communities, due to a rising number of pharmacy closures and reduced opening hours.
A new report released by the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) indicates a net loss of almost 64,000 pharmacy weekly opening hours between September 2022 and June 2024, equivalent to 3.4 million hours of pharmacy access per year.
Of the total hours lost, nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) were due to pharmacy closures, while 38 per cent resulted from reduced opening hours.
According to the CCA report, England has lost over 1,200 pharmacies since 2015, largely attributed to NHS funding cuts.
Years of flat funding have also forced many businesses to reduce opening hours to ‘balance the books.’
Out of the 10,487 pharmacies that were trading in June 2024, over a quarter had reduced their opening hours in the previous 18 months.
Alarmingly, this reduction in pharmacy access has disproportionately affected deprived communities, where pharmacies have reduced their hours 3.6 times more than those in less deprived areas.
Furthermore, the report reveals that nine of the ten Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) that were worst affected by the reduction in community pharmacy opening hours were located in the Midlands or Northern regions of England.
Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the CCA, warned that without action, more pharmacies will either close or be forced to further reduce their opening hours.
“Community pharmacies want to deliver more care for patients but are held back by a broken NHS funding contract.
“After a decade with any funding increase, pharmacies desperately need additional money just to survive, and further long-term investment if they are do more,” he said.
The CCA is calling for resolving the underfunding of community pharmacies “once and for all” to improve access to care.
In addition, it has urged the new government to invest in the sector through the expansion of the NHS Pharmacy First service and the commissioning of new services.
The association also recommends that ICBs add the deterioration of pharmacy access to their risk registers and take steps to mitigate it.
Since 2015, core funding for community pharmacy has been cut by 30 per cent in real-terms.
In 2023, the CCA uncovered an annual funding shortfall of more than £67,000 per pharmacy in England.
