Pharmacy businesses are holding their own in financial terms, the C+D Salary Survey 2015 has revealed, but owners are increasingly worried about the NHS environment.

A quarter of contractors managed to boost income from their businesses and a third reported no change to their finances over the past year. This painted a more positive picture than the C+D Salary Survey 2013, when only 20 per cent increased their income and 41 per cent reported a decrease.

This year also saw fewer contractors name pharmacy funding as the biggest threat to their business. Twenty-six per cent of the 58 business owners who responded to the survey cited category M clawbacks as their biggest worry and 20 per cent cited deficiencies in the pharmacy contract, compared to 39 per cent and 30 per cent respectively in 2013.

In their place came stronger concerns over the new NHS environment. Fourteen per cent of contractors named increased competition from other healthcare providers as the biggest threat to their business, while 12 per cent were concerned about distance-selling pharmacies and 6 per cent named building relationships with new NHS commissioners as their greatest worry.

Numark managing director John D’Arcy said he was unsurprised by the results. Many independents were unsure of how to “get involved with the commissioning agenda”, he said.

Mr D’Arcy said pharmacy was “feeling the pinch” following the announcement of the 2014-15 funding settlement. “The overarching theme is more for less – everyone has to work harder to stand still and it is hard to grow,” he argued.

But he stressed the sector was “faring reasonably well” given the circumstances. He also expressed little surprise over findings that 33 per cent of contractors responding to the C+D Salary Survey 2015 worked more than 51 hours a week. Three quarters said they hadn’t taken a single day off sick over the past year. “The extra workload has affected the work-life balance of pharmacists,” Mr D’Arcy said.

Sid Dajani, owner of Wainwrights Chemist in Bishopstoke, told C+D he was “definitely” working more hours and taking more work home. “It is affecting my sleep, social life and my work-life balance,” he said. “If the funding matched the workload, it would help,” he said.

Mr Dajani said he had fared a lot worse financially in the past year. “I’ve done more prescriptions but my bottom line has decreased. I’ve taken on more staff to cope and that is an overhead that hasn’t been reimbursed,” he added.

 

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