EXCLUSIVE

The average pharmacy in England stands to lose £19,000 over 10 months as a result of funding cuts and a recently announced category M clawback, an accountant has warned.

Umesh Modi, a partner at Silver Levene, predicted that the average pharmacy will see a “significant loss of income” to the tune of around £1,900 per month between June 2016 and March 2017.

The £19,000 total loss will consist of more than £4,000 due to the Department of Health’s plans to reduce category M payments between June and September, and a further £15,000 between October 2016 and March 2017, when the government plans to implement a £170m cut to pharmacy funding in England, he told C+D yesterday (May 16).

"A tough time"

Small independent pharmacies in particular will have a "tough time" over the coming months and may struggle to stay afloat, Mr Modi warned.

However, contractors should avoid making redundancies because most pharmacies already run on “skeleton staff”. Staff losses could reduce their ability to provide a full range of services, he stressed.

Mr Modi advised pharmacists to focus on the “bigger picture” and try to increase their revenue to prepare themselves for the loss of income.

Pharmacists should ensure they reach quotas for medicines use reviews (MURs) and the new medicine service (NMS) payments as well as seasonal services such as travel vaccines, to mitigate the drop in funding, he suggested.

Read C+D's breakdown of the category M clawback here.