Somerset communities left without 'convenient and accessible healthcare'
A local MP is calling for the Government to step in
Last updated 21st Jul 2024
It's claimed communities in Somerset are being left without convenient and accessible healthcare - with a local MP calling for urgent action.
Somerton and Frome's MP Sarah Dyke's demanding emergency cash from the Government to keep community pharmacies open, with 2 of them closing last year in Glastonbury alone - with the town without a chemist on the high street - because of increasing financial difficulties.
Community Pharmacy England have found, when inflation and increases in business and staffing costs are taken into account, funding for community pharmacy is decreasing year on year.
The five-year NHS contractual framework under which community pharmacies operate was agreed in July 2019, before the pandemic, and comes to an end in March 2024.
During the period of the five-year agreement, Community Pharmacy England says that core funding dropped by 30% in real terms, with pharmacies facing soaring costs and a workforce crisis.
Unlike typical businesses, pharmacies are unable to raise their prices to NHS patients.
The second largest chain of high street pharmacies, Lloyds Pharmacy, recently left the market, 236 pharmacies in Sainsburys stores have closed and Boots has announced 300 further closures.
Sarah Dyke, MP for Somerton and Frome and the candidate for Glastonbury at the next election, said: “Local pharmacies provide a vital frontline health service. With GP appointments scarce and other health services stretched beyond breaking point, it is more important than ever that community pharmacies are supported. But the sad reality is that this Government undervalues them.
“Time and again, the Conservatives treat community pharmacies as an afterthought. Even now, when they’re under critical pressure and closing their doors, the Government won’t step in with emergency funding or provide them with the clarity they need about their funding beyond March.
“The Liberal Democrats believe we need a long-term plan for community pharmacies, a review of the extraordinary pressures they’re facing and more training places and incentives to attract people into the profession.”
Mike Hewitson, independent pharmacy contractor, said: “I’ve been a pharmacist for more than 20 years and I’ve never known it this bad. I want to focus on helping my patients, but I can’t if I’m struggling to keep the lights on. We’re having to cut services, and introduce new charges for patients, many of whom will have to make difficult choices between their health and their heating this winter.
“Our funding has been fixed for the last 5 years, while costs such as the National Living Wage have increased hugely. It is now impossible to make ends meet. We need urgent and substantial help to make our sector sustainable and safe so that we can support GPs and social care. Where do my patients go if they no longer have a pharmacy?”
The Government tell us £645 million of funding's been announced to support them as part of their long-term workforce plan.
A spokesperson said: “Community pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system, backed by £2.6 billion a year, with 80% of people living within a 20-minute walk of a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in deprived areas.
“As part of our Long-Term Workforce Plan we’re providing thousands more training places for pharmacists, and we have announced £645 million in additional funding to support community pharmacies, through Pharmacy First which will see them supply prescription-only medicines for seven common conditions, provide the contraceptive pill, and give blood pressure checks without the need to see a GP.”
The news comes as the University of Bath have launched a partnership with the University of Plymouth - in a bid to plug the gap in staffing across the South West.
It's hoped the move will help fix the west country vacancy rate - which is bigger right now than in any other region nationwide, standing at 14 per cent.
You can find out more about that course here.