20/06/2024
Today has been a day of action with Pharmacies showing their frustration at the last of funding from NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Last month almost 150 products had been given a price concession, which happens when the market price of a medicine is greater than the price we can obtain that product at. These prices are usually agreed by discussion between the DHSC and Community Pharmacy England (CPE) who represent community pharmacies in these discussions, although in April the DHSC imposed the prices because they could not or would not agree with the evidence submitted by CPE. Archive data shows that in January 2020 there were (only) 54 lines on concession so the situation is getting increasingly worse. We cannot go on like this, when and where we can, we will ask for alternate medicines when the one prescribed is not available but this is not always possible, and there are local networks checking stock availability.
Between January and April 2024 177 Pharmacies have closed, in the 2023-24 financial year the number of closures was 432 (approx 4% of Pharmacies) which is greater than the total of the three previous years combined. This may be distorted by Lloyds closing completely but this is a company that also distributes medicines to Pharmacies nationwide, a wholesale company which has, in effect, admitted it cannot make money running Pharmacies. It is not just Lloyds though, the other two national distributors have closed Pharmacies which are deemed not viable. This leads to extra work for the rest of the network and whilst we are promised more money for providing Pharmacy First, established to reduce the strain on the GP practices, this does not cover the shortfall in remuneration for, and the workload created by, the existing supply situation.
We have shown our resilience during the pandemic but have been given little or no reward for it. All we want is to be paid, in full, for the medicines we supply and the services we supply. We do not need to, or should we have to, worry that we are not going to be paid in full for obtaining medicines.
