Almost a thousand pharmacies have closed in England since 2017, potentially leading to millions of extra GP appointments, The Guardian can exclusively reveal.
There are more than 11,000 pharmacies in England. Guardian analysis of the official register of these pharmacies has found that parts of the country have lost more than one in five pharmacies in the past six years, while poorer areas have seen proportionately more closures.
Since the end of 2017, 953 pharmacies have disappeared in England – more than 7.7% of the total. Over the same period, Wales has lost 4%, while Scotland’s figures have remained stable. In England, the number of closures is increasing rapidly, according to data from the General Pharmaceutical Council. In 2017, the number of pharmacies grew by 15. But last year, 372 pharmacies closed, more than three times as many as in 2022 and more than any year since at least 2016. In 2023, by contrast, Wales lost 12 pharmacies and Scotland six.
The figures cast doubt on efforts to ease pressure on England’s overburdened GP practices. In January, NHS England launched the Pharmacy First initiative, to encourage patients with seven common conditions to visit their pharmacist instead of their GP. The Department of Health and Social Care claims the scheme will free up 10 million GP appointments every year.
The number of pharmacy closures is increasing the pressure on GPs, not easing it, evidence shows.
A Guardian analysis of Community Pharmacy England figures shows that around 5.5 million GP appointments could have been saved since the end of 2018 if no pharmacies had closed since then. The conservative calculation – based on the estimated number of appointments that could have been saved by patients going to a now-closed pharmacy instead – suggesting that almost 1 million GP appointments could have been avoided last year alone.
In the Woking local authority area, the number of pharmacies has fallen by a third in the past six years, while West Berkshire, Exeter and Pendle have lost around a quarter. A total of fourteen councils in England have lost at least a fifth of their pharmacies.
The regions with the most closures were the South East, where almost one in ten pharmacies have been lost since the end of 2017, followed by the South West (9.4%), the North East (9.2%) and the North West (8.8% ). %). By comparison, London and the East Midlands have lost less than 5% of pharmacies.
Overall, the worst-affected parts of England have lost 10.7% of pharmacies in five years, while the least deprived neighborhoods lost 5.5%.
The figures also show that smaller pharmacy chains and independent pharmacies are being outcompeted by larger chains. In England, figures show that 14% of pharmacies in areas with a Boots branch have closed since 2017, compared to a 5% decline in the number of pharmacies in areas without Boots.
Paul Rees, the chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said the NHS’s £2 billion annual core funding was not covering the sector’s costs and many pharmacies were having to borrow from relatives or remortgage their homes simply to to remain open.
He said: “Thousands of family-run pharmacies are holding on by their fingertips but are at risk of going out of business if this chronic underfunding continues. Public pharmacies are closing at a record pace and many more are nearing the brink.”
Dervis Gurol, a pharmacy owner in Sussex, said: “It breaks my heart because patients rely on us to provide essential healthcare, many of whom are elderly or vulnerable. However, we cannot continue to provide that service and care to our patients if this funding crisis is not addressed.”
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The number of closures has raised doubts about the government’s Pharmacy First program.
Steve Brine, the Conservative chairman of the Commons health and social care committee, said the committee’s recent pharmacy review shows that community pharmacies have great potential to provide more clinical services, but that “extreme pressures are hampering their continued existence.” endangers some stores’.
He said: “If there are no pharmacies they cannot provide a comprehensive service. Pharmacy First is something very positive, but it is the beginning and not the end of the story.”
Dr. Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMP) and founder of the Fight4Pharmacies campaign, said: “I have to question the future viability of the Pharmacy First program with so many pharmacies closing. It is impossible to save 10 million GP appointments when community pharmacies are stripped to the bare bones due to chronic underfunding. We welcome the ambition: we want to help and have the skills to do so, but unless the government improves our core funding, more pharmacies will be forced to close, leading to more GP appointments, not fewer.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We do not recognize these figures. If a pharmacy closes, we expect a patient to go to another pharmacy, not the GP, and four in five people live within a 20-minute walk of a pharmacy.
“Pharmacy First, in addition to its comprehensive blood pressure monitoring and contraceptive services, is expected to free up 10 million GP appointments per year once fully scaled up. It has been widely welcomed by the pharmacy sector and so far 98% of pharmacies have signed up.”