Pharmacies to limit services as employment costs rise

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has advised its 6000 member pharmacies in England to start the process of reducing opening hours and services from 1st April, if no new and sufficient funding is delivered.

The NPA said this is to protect patients, in the absence of a financial settlement that covers a swathe of new costs due to hit pharmacies from the start of next month.

Additional unfunded costs due to hit pharmacies on April 1st include National Insurance, National Living Wage and Business rates, on top of a decade of real terms cuts.

Around 90% of an average pharmacy’s work is funded via the NHS, including dispensing medication and vaccinations.

But although the end of the current financial year is just days away, pharmacies are yet to receive any confirmation of funding for either the 2024/25 or 25/26 financial years that might allow them to avoid service reductions. 

Pharmacies have seen around a 40% cut to this funding in real terms since 2017, forcing record numbers to close.

29 have shut since the beginning of the year, with around 1,300 pharmacies shutting since 2017.

The NPA has recommended that its members give notice of reducing opening hours or other services until a funding deal emerges that would allow them to meet additional cost pressures and maintain safe services to patients.