Community pharmacies have issued a “cry from the heart” after a decade of mounting pressures on the sector, a leading industry figure has warned.
Speaking to GB News, Peak Pharmacies Chief Executive Peter Cattee said the strain is now “showing across health and social care, particularly since the Covid epidemic”.
The comments come as the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has revealed an unprecedented vote by pharmacy owners in favour of reducing services unless funding improves.
Cattee explained: “I think this is a cry from the heart from the community pharmacy sector, after ten years of attrition to the network.
Peak Pharmacies Chief Executive Peter Cattee said it is a “cry from the heart”
GB News
“I think it is the same as what we’re seeing across the whole of health and social care, the underfunding and the neglect that’s been going on, particularly since the Covid epidemic.
“I think that the strain is starting to tell in so many practical ways now that pharmacies are really crying out to the population and the government to say we really think something has to be done about this.”
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He added: “I don’t want to just talk about money on here, but there hasn’t been an uplift in the totality of pharmacy funding.
“For ten years now, the workload has gone up by 30 per cent. The strain is telling in so many ways, and many people will know this as they’ve tried to visit their local pharmacy over the last couple of years, and that have started to see disruption in the supply of medicines, which is impacting the whole of the supply chain across across the Europe and the world.
“At the same time, for the first time in my 40 years of practice in community pharmacy, we’re seeing pharmacies are not able to provide all the opening hours that they’re contracted to do.
“This this is purely down to staff shortages and economic pressure.”
NHS Pharmacy First should not be affected
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The NPA, which represents 6,500 community pharmacies – about half of the UK total – warned it would recommend withdrawing services from early 2024 if funding isn’t increased.
The ballot follows recent Budget announcements increasing National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage.
Under the proposed action, pharmacies could reduce opening hours to the minimum 40-hour week contract, rather than the typical 50 hours including evenings and weekends.
Recent Budget changes have intensified the crisis
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Free medicine deliveries could be halted for services not funded by the NHS.
The NPA stressed members are not being asked to withdraw from the new Pharmacy First service launched in January.
Recent Budget changes have intensified the crisis, with employers facing £12,000 in additional annual costs from National Insurance increases.
