Pharmacists to vote on shorter opening hours and fewer services amid funding row

Pharmacy leaders said the ability to provide safe care was being put at risk by a decline in funding, as ITV News' Amy Lewis reports

Pharmacists are set to vote on whether they will open for shorter hours and offer less services, in a potential "work to rule" action over 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.

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

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.

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 said: “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.”

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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."

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.”

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