Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne has warned that pharmacy closures “will inevitably put greater strain on general practice”.
“We know that community pharmacy, just like general practice, is struggling with workforce, workload and infrastructure pressure, so it’s no surprise that many pharmacy owners are worried about the viability of their businesses,” she yesterday (January 8) told C+D.
“Both GPs and pharmacists are struggling to meet demand and working under difficult circumstances,” she added.
Read more: Contract chaos: NPA issues pharmacy collective action ultimatum
“Any closures of pharmacies will inevitably put greater strain on general practice, and vice versa,” Hawthorne said.
She added that pharmacy closures would be “a huge loss for both patients and the wider health service”.
“We need to see the government tackle the workload and workforce crises in both general practice and community pharmacy head on as it works on the ten-year plan for health,” Hawthorne told C+D.
Closures looming
The comments come as the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) yesterday threatened that “continued delays” to the pharmacy contract may leave it “with little choice but to advise pharmacies to take collective action later this month for the first [time] in their history”.
“Funding has been cut by 40% in real terms over the last decade at the same time as workload substantially increased, leading to 700 pharmacy closures in the last two years alone,” it added.
Read more: Pharmacy ‘may not survive winter’ as pharmacist MP urges govt to avoid ‘past 14 years’ of mistakes
And last month, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) data revealed that 96% of pharmacy owners are either “concerned” or “very concerned” that “their business may not survive this winter”.
“They will continue to do everything they can to stay open and serve their patients…but pharmacies now need urgent support,” CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said at the time.
Meanwhile, MPs this week called for “financial incentives” to be introduced to encourage GPs to “work with pharmacies” and engage with the Pharmacy First service.
