Pharmacies currently receive up to £3.073bn a year for procuring and dispensing 1.1bn NHS medicines and providing various other safety and clinical services. However, the government has confirmed that the real-terms value of pharmacy funding in 2015/16, was £3.864m.

In that time there has been a 16% increase in the number of NHS-prescribed medicines being dispensed, and since 31 March 2016 there has been a net loss of 1,479 bricks-and-mortar pharmacies, a 13% contraction of the network.

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Health and Social Care, who tabled the parliamentary question, said: ‘Pharmacies play a crucial role by reducing the pressure on overcrowded hospitals and GP surgeries. If we continue to underfund them, we risk putting hospitals already on the brink under even more pressure, leaving many patients to suffer unnecessarily.

‘Without additional funding, more pharmacies will close – affecting rural, coastal and deprived communities the hardest – where they are most needed.

‘With so many pharmacies already having gone to the wall and with many more at risk of closure, the Government needs to change course. That means reversing the brutal cuts to pharmacies under the Conservatives and exempting pharmacies from the government's disastrous jobs tax to prevent any future surge in closures.'

Reaction

Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists' Association, said: ‘The Government has pledged to stabilise the community pharmacy network. This will only be possible with fair funding which reflects the workload the NHS and patients expect and need. Unfortunately, without action, patients will see further pharmacy closures and find it harder to access the medicines they need.

'As well as damaging the pharmacy sector, this underfunding significantly limits the NHS' ability to meet patients' needs.  Pharmacies could release tens of millions of primary care appointments each year, but this is only possible with funding to stabilise the sector, and further investment so patients can access routine primary care from pharmacies closer to their homes and places of work.'

National Pharmacy Association chief executive, Henry Gregg, said: ‘The funding statistics revealed in parliament this week are further evidence of the need for fresh investment in pharmacies, coming as they do after the NHS's independent analysis revealed a £2bn shortfall.

‘We are still waiting for negotiations to begin on a new pharmacy contract in England – and we need swift progress in the light of statistics like these and the depressing reality on the ground for pharmacy teams and patients. It's an opportunity for the government to fulfil its promises to stabilise the pharmacy network and support pharmacies to provide more NHS clinical care close to where people live, work and shop.'