Almost 64,000 hours of community pharmacy weekly opening hours were lost between September 2022 and June 2024 – equivalent to 3.4 million hours per year.
Over one-third of hours were lost as pharmacies were forced to cut their opening hours with the effects of historic underfunding continuing to take their toll.
Analysis by the Company Chemists’ Association found that:
- The loss of opening hours between September 2022 and June 2024 was equivalent to the loss of almost 3.4 million hours of pharmacy access per year.
- Nearly two-thirds (62%) was due to pharmacy closures, whilst 38% were due to reduced opening hours.
- The impact of reduced opening hours has been felt unevenly across England. Pharmacies in the 20% most deprived communities reduced their hours 3.6 times more than those in the 20% least deprived communities.
- 9 of the 10 Integrated Care Boards with the greatest reduction in opening hours (per 100,000 population) were in the Midlands or Northern regions of England.
Read the CCA’s report on the reduction of pharmacy opening hours here
The findings demonstrate the damaging impact that underfunding of community pharmacies in England continues to have, beyond the permanent closure of pharmacies.
The funding crunch continues to bite – over a quarter (26.9%) of pharmacies that were trading in June 2024 had reduced their opening hours in the previous 18 months.
Worryingly, the reduction in pharmacy access has disproportionately impacted deprived communities and certain parts of England more. More deprived communities have had to suffer from almost 500,000 fewer hours of pharmacy care per year, due to reduced opening hours alone.
Meanwhile, the following Integrated Care Boards were the top 10 worst affected by the reduction in community pharmacy opening hours:
Integrated Care Board (ICB)
|
Net change in opening hours between 2022/23 and 2023/24 | % change
|
Devon | -1,741 | -14.6% |
Humber and North Yorkshire | -2,519 | -14.1% |
Somerset | -749 | -13.7% |
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes | -1,240 | -13.7% |
Surrey Heartlands | -1,317 | -13.4% |
West Yorkshire | -4,008 | -13.3% |
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire | -1,224 | -13.2% |
Hampshire And Isle of Wight | -2,179 | -13.0% |
Coventry and Warwickshire | -1,373 | -12.8% |
Norfolk and Waveney | -1,309 | -12.5% |
The Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) is calling for:
- underfunding of community pharmacies to be resolved once and for all, so patient access to NHS-prescribed medicines and NHS services can be protected.
- the new Government to invest in community pharmacies through the expansion of the NHS Pharmacy First service and commissioning of new services.
- ICBs to add the deterioration of pharmacy access to their risk registers and take steps to mitigate it.
Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the Company Chemists’ Association said: “Underfunding of pharmacies in England has led to the loss of 1,200+ pharmacies since 2015.
Many other pharmacies have had to significantly reduce their opening hours, just to keep their heads above water.
Taken together, patients have lost access to almost 3.4 million hours of pharmacy care a year.
Without action, more pharmacies will either close or be forced to further reduce their opening hours.
Community pharmacies want to deliver more care for patients but are held back by a broken NHS funding contract. After a decade with any funding increase, pharmacies desperately need additional money just to survive, and further long-term investment if they are do more”.