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Many community pharmacies will not survive this winter season without urgent financial support, pharmacy leaders have warned.
Latest polling data from Community Pharmacy England (conducted during October and November 2024) highlights alarming findings from pharmacy owners representing over 3,500 pharmacies in England and 55 senior local pharmacy leaders.
Without urgent intervention, pharmacy closures and patient safety risks are imminent this winter. Pharmacy owners and leaders warn that many community pharmacies may not survive the season without government intervention.
As the Health Secretary recently emphasised the importance of patient safety this winter, pharmacy owners share this priority but fear they will struggle to maintain it under current pressures.
Key findings from the poll of pharmacy owners include:
Almost all (96%) of pharmacy owners are worried about their businesses this winter.
Seven in ten say they are worried about the patient safety risks that the ongoing pressures pose.
More than a third of pharmacy owners are worried their business may not survive the winter.
Pharmacy owners predict patients will see:
Longer waiting times (expected by more than 80% of pharmacy owners),
Reduced opening hours (expected by around a third of pharmacy owners), and
Reduced availability of some services (expected by almost three quarters of pharmacy owners).
The concerns are echoed by local pharmacy leaders, with:
73% of local pharmacy leaders extremely concerned about the ability of pharmacies in their area to continue serving patients this winter
69% of local leaders predicting this will have a serious negative impact on patients in their area
Without remedial action, 60% of local pharmacy leaders expect to see more permanent closures of pharmacies in their area this winter
67% expect to see pharmacies forced to reduce their opening hours, while 58% expect to see patients waiting longer for medications this winter.
Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England, said:
“Community pharmacies simply will not withstand another season of winter pressures, and if they are left to collapse, the impact on businesses and their staff, on patients, on the wider NHS, and ultimately on the nation’s health, will be unthinkable.
Years of underfunding, with cuts of 30% in real terms, have left community pharmacies battling for survival: they will continue to do everything they can to stay open and serve their patients, and they still have big ambitions to do even more to help people and the NHS in the future, but pharmacies now need urgent support.”
Anil Sharma, a Community Pharmacy Owner in the East of England, said:
“We are really feeling the strain in community pharmacy, and as winter approaches, it feels even harder to manage. My team and I are burnt out, stressed, and worried about how we’ll cope with ever increasing demand. Patients rely on us, yet every day the service we are able to offer is deteriorating, whether its medicines we are unable to source, or waiting times because the team are so overloaded: we need urgent support to be able to keep helping our patients in the way that we want to.”
Coverage
More pharmacies will close this winter if ‘left to collapse’ by Labour, survey warns | Daily Express
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