Key Summary
- Pharmacies currently receive up to ÂŁ3.073bn a year, and the real-terms value of funding in 2015/16 was ÂŁ3.864bn.
- Since 31 March 2016, 1,479 pharmacies have closed down, a 13 percent contraction of the network.
- At the same time, there has been a 16 percent increase in the number of NHS-prescribed medicines being dispensed.
While pharmacies have been battling with closures and increased workload, the government has confirmed that the current funding in real terms is 26 percent less than what it was a decade ago.
Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock, in a written reply to Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, said the funding for community pharmacies is ÂŁ800 million less in real-terms today than it was in 2015/16.
Pharmacies currently receive up to ÂŁ3.073 billion a year for procuring and dispensing 1.1bn NHS medicines and providing various other safety and clinical services.
However, the government has confirmed that the real-terms value of pharmacy funding in 2015/16 was ÂŁ3.864bn.
Since 31 March 2016, 1,479 pharmacies have closed down, a 13 percent contraction of the network.
At the same time, the workload of pharmacies has gone up, with a 16 percent increase in the number of NHS-prescribed medicines being dispensed.
Morgan said: “Pharmacies play a crucial role by reducing the pressure on overcrowded hospitals and GP surgeries. If we continue to underfund them, we risk putting hospitals already on the brink under even more pressure, leaving many patients to suffer unnecessarily.
"Without additional funding, more pharmacies will close – affecting rural, coastal and deprived communities the hardest – where they are most needed.
"With so many pharmacies already having gone to the wall and with many more at risk of closure, the government needs to change course. That means reversing the brutal cuts to pharmacies under the Conservatives and exempting pharmacies from the government’s disastrous jobs tax to prevent any future surge in closures."
The government had last March agreed to uplift pharmacy funding by 19 percent, following a decade of real-term cuts.
This new funding was welcomed, but it fell short of what the pharmacy network needs to survive.
The government’s own independently-commissioned analysis showed a £2bn funding shortfall.
However, the government had last year assured that it was committed to stabilise community pharmacy.
Sector leaders feel vindicated
The pharmacy sector leaders have said the new claim by the government vindicates their major grievance of underfunding.
Company Chemists Association chief executive Malcolm Harrison said, “We welcome the minister’s finding that the sector is still significantly underfunded, despite the changes made a year ago.
"The Government has pledged to stabilise the community pharmacy network. This will only be possible with fair funding which reflects the workload the NHS and patients expect and need.
"Unfortunately, without action, patients will see further pharmacy closures and find it harder to access the medicines they need.
"As well as damaging the pharmacy sector, this underfunding significantly limits the NHS’ ability to meet patients’ needs.
"Pharmacies could release tens of millions of primary care appointments each year, but this is only possible with funding to stabilise the sector, and further investment so patients can access routine primary care from pharmacies closer to their homes and places of work."
National Pharmacy Association chief executive Henry Gregg said, “It’s important to remind MPs and Ministers that a decade of cuts have led to serious consequences for patients’ access to care.
“The funding statistics revealed in parliament this week are further evidence of the need for fresh investment in pharmacies, coming as they do after the NHS’s independent analysis revealed a £2 billion shortfall.
“We are still waiting for negotiations to begin on a new pharmacy contract in England – and we need swift progress in the light of statistics like these and the depressing reality on the ground for pharmacy teams and patients.
"It’s an opportunity for the government to fulfil its promises to stabilise the pharmacy network and support pharmacies to provide more NHS clinical care close to where people live, work and shop.”
NPA board member and pharmacy entrepreneur Ashley Cohen said, "This is such an important admission by the pharmacy minister to this written question. I know sector organisations are keen to apply pressure on upcoming negotiations, but surely based on below the minimum we should look to accept is restoring the level to the agreed inflated 2015/16 figure. We should not be accepting anything below an ÂŁ800m increase."
Community Pharmacy North East London CEO Shilpa Shah told Pharmacy Business, “I am pleased to see that the minister understands that community pharmacy is underfunded. What we need to see now is a solution to this.
“We cannot keep asking community pharmacy to do more without core funding being fixed. The 2026-2027 contract needs to reflect that so that we reduce the number of closures that we are experiencing.”
Christchurch Health Centre director Baba Akomolafe told Pharmacy Business, “This admission is welcome, but it must now be matched with immediate restorative investment in community pharmacy.
“Without a sustainable and properly funded community pharmacy network, the National Health Service 10-year plan and two of its three strategic “left shifts” cannot succeed.
“Investment in community pharmacy is a strategic investment in prevention and community-based care. A resilient grassroots pharmacy network reduces pressure on GPs, which in turn eases demand on hospitals and the wider NHS workforce. That is what meaningful reform looks like: strengthening primary care foundations so the entire system functions more effectively.”
