In News

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

Leading figures in pharmacy have warned a Financial Times report last week which revealed the number of late-night pharmacies in England has fallen dramatically in the last three years is a clear sign the pharmacy network is creaking under intense financial pressure. 

The report said an analysis of NHS data by geospatial software engineer and data scientist Robin Wilson showed about one in 100 pharmacies are open after 9pm during at least one evening a week compared with one in 10 in 2022.

The report also highlighted a 20 per cent and 80 per cent reduction in pharmacies open after 6pm and 11pm respectively. Only 24 pharmacies are now open beyond 11pm across the country, the report revealed.

Numark chair Harry McQuillan told Independent Community Pharmacist the findings were “a stark illustration of the pressures the sector continues to face”.

He urged Labour to commission pharmacies “to provide extended hours cover at a rate that provides a fair return on contractors’ investment” through its neighbourhood health service blueprint.

“Pharmacies want to do more for their communities, including offering extended opening hours where viable,” McQuillan said. “These decisions are increasingly shaped by workforce challenges, soaring operating costs and a funding model that has not kept pace with the expanding role pharmacy is expected to play.

“Late-night provision is often loss-making and without sustainable support it becomes harder for pharmacies to justify keeping doors open into the evening.”

He added: “With the right investment, contractual stability and a long-term vision for pharmacy’s role in primary care, there is real opportunity not only to protect access but to extend it in a way that meets patient need.”

Funding simply does not match the level of service expected

Company Chemists’ Association chief executive Malcolm Harrison said pharmacies’ opening hours were “shrinking because funding simply does not match the level of service expected”.

Referencing an independent economic analysis commissioned by NHS England last year which showed the shortfall in community pharmacy funding could be as much as £2.6 billion, Harrison said its current funding model was “unsustainable”.

“This financial squeeze is directly translating into reduced access for patients,” he said. “Since 2017, the network has contracted by 1,476 pharmacies, which is a reduction of 15 per cent. Additionally, almost 64,000 community pharmacy opening hours were lost between September 2022 and June 2024.

“Nearly two‑thirds of these hours vanished due to closures, with the remaining 38 per cent lost because existing pharmacies were forced to cut their opening times.

“Without urgent, sustainable investment, more pharmacies will have no choice but to reduce hours further or close entirely. This will severely limit patients’ ability to access medicines and primary care at the times they need and will leave other parts of an already overstretched NHS to absorb the pressure.”