'Sector on life support': Protests held across 6,000 pharmacies in the UK on national day of action

It comes as 1,400 pharmacies closed over the last 10 years. On average, 18 community pharmacies also closed every week in the UK between January and June 2024, according to research by accountancy firm PwC.

The NPA are calling for a £1.3billion funding increase in England to plug the financial blockhole facing community pharmacies.

Its ballot asks pharmacies if they will reduce services and put NHS leaders on notice that they will cut their hours to contract minimums and withdraw free deliveries or free medicine dispensing packs if the financial situation for pharmacies does not improve.

Ashley Cohen is the owner of Halton Pharmacy in Leeds and he told GB News: "Today is a call to action to say to the government and also to the public that enough is enough.

"We've had 10 years of chronic underfunding into our sector. The pressure that is put on us is relentless.

"National living wage going up in April costs us here about £70,000 extra a year, so it means we need to borrow more, to raid our savings, we need to look at contingency plans as at the moment the money we are getting paid by the Government to do the simple things like dispense medication is not enough.

"We are constantly dispensing medicines at a loss and I am out of pocket."

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A cross-sector delegation, led by the NPA, will deliver a petition of more than 350,000 signatures to Downing Street calling for action to support community pharmacies. It comes as more than 6,000 pharmacies across the country stage a day of action to highlight the threats to their service.

Last week Lord Darzi’s report on the NHS warned of the threats to the pharmacy network from closures and underfunding.

The most recent 5-year contract for pharmacies in England expired in April. But nearly half-way through this current financial year, no funding offer for this year has been made public and no discussions have been opened on a longer term settlement for the pharmacy sector.

Speaking to GB News, Ashley Cohen is the owner of Halton Pharmacy in Leeds said: "The Government have made the right noises for pharmacy whilst in opposition but talk is cheap.

"We need a restoration in our pay from 10 years ago to stop the closures of pharmacies, we've had zero percent in our core funding for 10 years.

"To take the pressure of doctors and increase capacity and keep people out of hospital, we need that funding.

"The pharmacy sector for me is on life support, and without an urgent injection we probably will be end of life so we really need that to be listened to now by the Government."

The NPA ballot is open for responses for six weeks and any action supported by a majority of pharmacies could take place before Christmas.

Most pharmacies are contracted to open for a minimum of 40 hours a week but the majority open for longer to offer out-of-hours or weekend services.

The ballot asks pharmacies if they will boycott data collection beyond that required in their contract and consider serving notice on a range of locally contracted services, negotiated directly with local authorities.

In response to the protests and ballot, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This Government inherited a broken NHS and pharmacies have been neglected for years.

“The Darzi review will inform a 10-Year Health Plan of three fundamental shifts; from analogue to digital, from hospitals to communities and from sickness to prevention.

“Pharmacies are key to making healthcare fit for the future, which is why we will expand their role - making better use of pharmacists’ skills, including accelerating the rollout of independent prescribing.”