The number of community pharmacies in Northern Ireland has dwindled to 506, the lowest in the last ten years, while dispensing has reached record levels.
According to the 'General Pharmaceutical Services for Northern Ireland: Annual Statistics 2025/26', there was a reduction of two pharmacies compared with 2024/25.
The number of pharmacies was relatively stable until 2018/19, when numbers began to decline from the 532 open that year.
At the Local Commissioning Group (LCG) level, the pharmacy numbers have declined in four out of five Northern Ireland’s Health Trust areas over the last 10 years.
The Western Trust has retained the same number of pharmacies (98), compared with a decade ago, and the Belfast LCG saw the steepest decline, with 11 pharmacies closing down during the period.
At the Local Government District (LGD) level, pharmacy numbers have declined in 10 out of Northern Ireland’s 11 districts over the last 10 years.
The only increase has been in Fermanagh and Omagh, where there are now 46 pharmacies, an addition of one pharmacy since 2015/16.
The drop in pharmacy numbers has been highest in Lisburn and Castlereagh, where three pharmacies downed shutters since 2015/16, and 26 remain open at the end of 2025/26.
All-time high dispensing
There were 46.4 million items dispensed in the community in Northern Ireland in 2025/26 across all contractors.
This was an increase of 1.6 percent on the previous year and is the highest level of dispensing recorded.
It was dominated by community pharmacies, which accounted for 99.3 percent of all items dispensed.
This equated to BSO processing an average of 2.3 million prescription forms per month throughout the year, up 3.5 percent on 2024/25.
