Pharmacies to be balloted for action over funding cuts

Pharmacists are to be balloted over potential “work-to-rule” action amid a row over funding.

Action could see pharmacies opening for shorter hours or potentially providing fewer services.

Pharmacy leaders said the ability to provide safe care was being put at risk by a decline in funding.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents community pharmacies, has called for a £1.3 billion funding increase in England.

It has launched a ballot of members asking if they will reduce their service unless there is more money made available for pharmacies.

The NPA is not a trade union, so any outcome of the ballot would be advisory.

But the association said that action could start before Christmas if the majority of those balloted vote in favour.

Action could potentially include: pharmacies opening only for the minimum number of hours; withdrawal the provision of free deliveries for medication and potentially serving notice on some services – such as some emergency contraception services or stop smoking support.

NPA members across England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The organisation, which represents 6,000 community pharmacies across the UK, said that it is the first time that it has balloted its members on work-to-rule actions.

The ballot says: “Community pharmacies are committed to providing a safe service. But our ability to provide that safe provision will soon be put at risk by continued declining funding, mass pharmacy closures and growing workloads.

“We are putting the NHS leaders on notice that we cannot guarantee community pharmacy services will remain safe into the future if current depressed funding, pharmacy closures and increasing workload trends continue.”

Paul Rees, chief executive of the NPA, said: “It pains us to take this step but pharmacies are being pushed to the brink by a decade of real terms cuts that has slashed 40% from their funding.

“Pharmacies are routinely required to dispense NHS medicines at a loss, 1,500 have been forced to close in the past decade, while others have had to cut hours to try and make ends meet. That is not acceptable and is hitting patients hard.

“We desperately want to work with Wes Streeting and the new Government to unleash the vast potential of pharmacies to deliver the better health in the community that we all want.

“But despite big settlements for junior doctors and train drivers since the election there is no sign – as yet – of an end to the chronic real-terms cuts that is literally driving dedicated healthcare professionals in pharmacies out of business.”

Commenting, Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England, said: “Today’s news should be a serious warning to the Government and the NHS: community pharmacies urgently need help.

“If immediate action isn’t taken and the current financial crisis continues there will be a ‘house of cards’ collapse of the sector and patients and communities will suffer.

“For too long, pharmacies have been dispensing medicines at a loss due to rising costs and insufficient NHS reimbursements, leaving pharmacy owners to cover the differences in costs out of their own pockets.

“Proper funding for community pharmacies is vital for them to continue supporting the healthcare system.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This Government inherited a broken NHS where pharmacies have been neglected for years.

“Pharmacies are key to making healthcare fit for the future as we shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community. We will make better use of pharmacists’ skills, including accelerating the rollout of independent prescribing to improve access to care.”