Four pharmacies shut permanently every week in England last year, new analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has found.
NPA analysis of NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) data found that 222 pharmacies closed their doors in 2024, the second highest annual closure rate on record.
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.
The NPA, who represent independent pharmacies, have said that pharmacies 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’.
Closures also put significant pressures onto neighbouring pharmacies and risk a ‘domino effect’, massively increasing workload and staffing costs without proper renumeration.
An updated NPA analysis of pharmacy closures in the last two years also shows that:
West Berkshire has overtaken Plymouth as having seen the highest rate of pharmacy closure out of any council area in the country per head of their population, with Plymouth and Liverpool having seen the second and third highest respectively. West Berkshire is also the country’s ‘pharmacy desert’, with the fewest pharmacies per patient.
Cornwall, one of the most rural council areas with the most isolated patients, has seen a surge in pharmacy closures, with 9 having shut in the last two years, putting it in the top 10 areas in the country for pharmacy closures.
Oxfordshire and Berkshire have some of the lowest numbers of pharmacies per head of population. West Berkshire, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest and Oxfordshire make up four of the top six areas for pharmacy deserts.
Nearly 90 per cent of council areas have seen at least one pharmacy shut permanently in just the last two years.
The NPA is calling for the government to urgently start consultations on this year’s pharmacy funding settlement. The association warned that a deal which starts to reverse cuts was needed to avoid further pharmacy closures and the potential of the first ‘work to rule’ style action in history.
Last November, 99.9% of pharmacy owners said they were willing to limit their services in the interests of patient safety if improved funding is not forthcoming. 97.8% voted to serve notice on opening hours above the minimum required by their contract – meaning fewer pharmacies will be open in the evenings and at weekends as well voting to end free medicine deliveries, among other options.
The current funding settlement for community pharmacies in England expired on 31st March 2024 and pharmacies have been working without a new settlement more than nine months into the financial year.
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.
Nick Kaye, Chair of the National Pharmacy Association said:
“These are stark figures, which show pharmacies are continuing to close in record numbers due to the impact of 40 per cent cuts to their budgets.
"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.
“It is patients that have lost out the most, with more people in isolated areas having to travel further for vital medication as well as access to medical advice convenient to them.
“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.
“We’ve given the Government ample time to respond to the very clear expression of professional concern expressed in our ballot – now’s the time to come up with a sensible settlement and a clear roadmap to the reform we all want to see.”
Notes to editors
Latest pharmacy closures data is published monthly by the NHS Business Services Authority.
Closure analysis is based on information published by the NHSBSA and grouped into upper tier local authority. The full analysis can be made available on request.
The NPA published five tests for any deal put forward by government and if no negotiations had commenced by the end of the month.
An above inflation increase in the global sum for pharmacies that makes significant progress towards mitigating devastating real terms cuts over the past decade and covers real terms cost increases in 2024-25 and 2025-26, including National Insurance and National Living Wage increases
Pharmacies receive payment in arrears for 2024/25 as a matter of urgency in one lump sum to prevent further financial damage and closures – and there are no further clawbacks for the 2024/25 period
Core funding from 2025/26 is delivered equitably and transparently and is not dependent on the actions of other health providers
A clear roadmap to reform of the sector and the Drug Tariff is set out – enabling it to deliver the Government’s NHS 10 year plan ambitions to move care into the community and restore pharmacies to a sustainable financial position as outlined in the forthcoming independent economic review of community pharmacy.
A new mechanism is established for reviewing funding regularly so that it is ensured that funding increases annually at least in line with costs – and we never see a repeat of the catastrophic huge real terms cuts of the last decade.
