Speaking in the House of Commons today (January 24), pharmacy minister Neil O’Brien also signalled that more cash could be incoming for the sector.

He made the comments in response to a question from Conservative MP for Southend West Anna Firth, who asked whether the minister would “consider urgently writing off the £370m of COVID loans given to pharmacies during COVID-19?”

Mr O’Brien said that the government is “working to…look closely at the issue”.

Read more: Final straw’ as transitional payments to be cut to zero from February, PSNC says

He added that it is also “working to increase the amount of funding going into pharmacies so they can do more clinical services”.

Earlier this month, health minister Lord Markham said that pharmacies had been “underutilised in the past” and the government’s “plan of using them more for patients will put more funding their way”.

 

Campaign to write off loans

 

The advanced funding was first secured by negotiators in March 2020 to ease cashflow pressures during the pandemic – with additional cash added in May and June – for repayment in the future.

But the National Pharmacy Association has been campaigning for the loans to be written off since 2020.

Read more: NPA drives campaign van to Parliament urging COVID costs to be covered

And in May 2021, the Association of Independent Multiple pharmacies (AIMp) called for an alleged NHS underspend of “billions” to be used to write off the COVID loans.

Many had raised concerns that pharmacies in England might be forced to close because the Treasury was demanding repayment of emergency loans during COVID-19 that helped them stay open.

 

Trend of closures

 

Meanwhile, during the same parliamentary questions today, Conservative MP for Eastleigh Paul Holmes asked how the government would “reverse” the “trend of closures” in pharmacies.

Mr Holmes said: “Eastleigh, Hedge End and the villages have many community pharmacies but it is disappointing that [Lloydspharmacy] are to close two pharmacies in my constituency.

“I welcome the additional £100m this government is investing in community pharmacies but can my right honourable friend confirm how this funding will cut NHS waiting times and more importantly reverse this trend of closures?”

Read more: Pharmacy bodies join forces to fight for more funding as closure threat looms

Pharmacies “are private businesses”, Mr O’Brien replied, adding that the government invests £2.5bn in the services they provide as well as adding another £100m in September “so they can provide more clinical services”.

The number of community pharmacists “is up 18% since 2017”, he claimed, and the government has “introduced the pharmacy access scheme to make sure we can support pharmacies in areas where there are few of them”.

“But clearly the solution for pharmacy is for them to be doing more clinical work, taking the burden off GPs, providing accessible services and that is exactly what we’re doing to keep growing,” he said.

C+D reported in October that England saw a net closure of 110 pharmacies in 2021/22, resulting in the lowest number of community pharmacies since 2015.

It comes as C+D revealed last week that Lloydspharmacy will pull out of its 237 pharmacy branches in Sainsbury’s stores.

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