Pharmacies across Oxfordshire worry they will be forced to provide fewer services
The group representing community pharmacies are calling for a £1.3 billion increase to funding.
Pharmacies across Oxfordshire worry that without extra funding they will be forced to close earlier and provide fewer services for their customers and patients.
The group representing community pharmacies, The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), have called for a £1.3 billion increase to funding in England.
The NPA have also launched a ballot of members asking if they will reduce their service unless there is more money made available for pharmacies. They are not a trade union, so any outcome of the ballot would be advisory.
However, 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 and withdrawal the provision of free deliveries for medication.
They are also considering serving notice on some services such as some emergency contraception services or stop smoking support.
Raza Hassani is the owner of Westlake pharmacy in Yarnton and he says that he’s prepared to take action.
Mr Hassani said: “The reason why we are doing it is because pharmacies have seen funding cuts over the last five to six years and most pharmacies are struggling.
“If we carry on like this most pharmacies will go out of business.
“It worries me as I never want to turn down any of my patients, but if something doesn't change then that’s the situation we will be in.”
In the last two years we've seen six pharmacies close across the county and it wasn’t long ago that we were reporting on the ‘pharmacy desert’ in rural areas of Oxfordshire.
Mr Hassani says he is wanting the government to “think clearly about the pharmacy sector”.
He said: “What we want is for the government to look at the whole process of the way we are paid because pharmacy forms an essential part of the NHS.
“So, we want the government to pay us adequately so that we can provide these services and carry on providing these services”.
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."
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."