20/06/2024
Here some of the statistics of why 'Save Our Pharmacies'.
Community pharmacies are at breaking point and need your help to keep providing frontline care to patients and members of the public. We need help with:
a) Fair funding
• Funding for pharmacies has been cut by 30% in real-terms since 2015 despite rising costs and ever-increasing patient demand.
• Community pharmacy teams are under more extreme pressures than ever before.
• Pharmacies desperately need an urgent increase in funding from the Government to prevent widespread closures.
• Without this support, patient access to vital healthcare services will be severely diminished.
Key statistics:
➢ Pharmacies rely on NHS funding for some 90% of their income .
➢ Since 2015, pharmacy funding has been cut by 30% in real terms, despite overall NHS spending growing by 3.4% per year.
➢ There is currently an annual funding shortfall of more than £67,000 per pharmacy in England – money which could be invested in staff to provide vital NHS services
➢ 97% of pharmacy companies report that costs are rising in PSNC Pharmacy Pressures Survey 2022.
➢ 61% of pharmacy business owners/head office representatives said they were concerned about their ability to keep their pharmacies open.
➢ Since 2015, there has been a net loss of 720 pharmacies
➢ Between 2015 – 2022, there has been a net loss of 1,000+ GP practices and community pharmacies in England. Worryingly, 37% of those net permanent closures have occurred in the 20% most deprived parts of England, where healthcare need is likely to be higher.
➢ A study by Ernst and Young (EY) for the NPA (2020) predicted that 72 percent of family-owned pharmacies could be loss-making by the end of 2024 if the current contractual arrangements remain unchanged (NPA 2020).
➢ A subsequent report by academics from LSE and UCL warned that thousands of pharmacies could be forced to close in the years ahead (NPA 2022).
➢ There were 24,601 unplanned temporary pharmacy closures in England in the 12 months from November 2021 to October 2022 (PSNC Critical Pressures Briefing). Pharmacies only close temporarily when they are forced to do so by circumstances beyond their control.
➢ An immediate injection of funding of at least £500m is needed to protect critical patient service (PSNC Critical Pressures Briefing)
PLEASE SAVE OUR PHARAMACIES and please sign the partition or vote the party who look after our healthcare.
