Over 2024, pharmacies across the UK have faced a deepening crisis amid warnings that the sector is on the verge of collapse.
Some 222 pharmacies closed their doors in 2024 in England, the second-highest annual closure rate on record.
West Berkshire also has the fewest pharmacies per patient, according to the NPA’s analysis.
Cornwall, one of the most rural council areas with the most isolated patients, has seen a surge in pharmacy closures, with nine having shut in the past two years.
West Berkshire, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest and Oxfordshire make up four of the top six areas for pharmacy deserts.
In total, nearly 700 pharmacies have closed since 2022, leaving England with its lowest number of pharmacies in nearly 20 years and forcing patients to travel record distances to access vital medicines.
Patients travel up to 40 miles for treatment
Last week, a coroner said a man died after his pharmacy ran out of epilepsy medication and he was instead left with an “IOU” note for the drugs.
Kevin McLoughlin said in his Prevention of Future Deaths report that Mr Crompton, 44, had suffered a previous fall in 2024 after the same pharmacy ran out of the drug for over a week.
Rural patients face ‘blackouts’ as pharmacies threaten to cut key services
Read MoreThe NPA, who represent around half of the UK’s 12,000 pharmacies, have said that owners have been “pushed to breaking point” by 40 per cent real terms cuts to their funding and the ones still open are left “hanging on by their fingertips”.
David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “With healthcare services increasingly moving away from traditional settings like GP surgeries and hospitals to align with where people live, work, and shop, the closure of community pharmacies could have serious, unintended consequences on residents’ health and wellbeing.”
Pharmacy owners have voted in support of limiting their services in the interests of patient safety if improved funding is not forthcoming – meaning fewer pharmacies will be open in the evenings and at weekends as well voting to end free medicine deliveries, among other options.
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The pharmacy contract funds 90 per cent of an average pharmacy’s activity, including covering the cost of medication as well as other NHS services, such as vaccination campaigns.
“Pharmacies that have remained open are left hanging on by their fingertips and could be forced to close without an urgent increase in their funding.
“Patience with the failure to commence consultations on the current year’s settlement has worn paper-thin and pharmacies simply cannot wait any longer for a settlement that should have been agreed and paid nearly more than a year ago.
The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.
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