Northern Ireland patients have called on the government to protect pharmacies from the threat of recent funding cuts.

More than 105,000 patients signed a petition calling for the Northern Ireland Assembly to support pharmacies struggling to deliver frontline health services.

The patients follows the government's decision to slash pharmacy funding by a third. That decision is currently being questioned in a judicial review, which should see the courts reaching a conclusion on whether the cuts have been fairly implemented on December 16.

Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI) presented the patient petition to assembly member and Alliance party health spokesperson Kieran McCarthy, who praised pharmacy as a "vital component" of the healthcare system.

"The local pharmacy is, for many, the first port of call if they have an ailment, and takes a huge burden off our already under-pressure surgeries and hospitals," Mr McCarthy stressed. "We should be looking at ways of maximising [its] use, not reducing it."

He added that the petition was the "largest ever presented" to the assembly.

And CPNI chief executive Gerard Greene pushed for a solution to the "crisis" in Northern Ireland's pharmacy funding.

"It remains our intention to work with the minister for health and the health and social care board to find a solution that will protect the essential frontline healthcare services we provide in our local communities," he said. "Community pharmacy is in crisis and we are concerned that, unless measures are put in place straight away, this may impact on the long-term viability of pharmacy services across Northern Ireland."