EXCLUSIVE

Very few pharmacies will be forced to close by government funding cuts, a Day Lewis director has predicted.

Pharmacy minister Alistair Burt admitted in January that slashing the global sum by 6% in England could result in up to 3,000 pharmacy closures. But Jay Patel told C+D that contractors have invested too much "time and energy" in their businesses to shut their doors.

Some 100-hour pharmacies might "find it difficult" to stay afloat as they don't "add much value" to the sector, Mr Patel said. But "more established pharmacy players" will survive the funding drop, he said last month (February 26). 

No job losses at Day Lewis

No Day Lewis pharmacies will close as a result of the cuts, nor does the company plan to lay off any staff, Mr Patel said.

The company did not have a “mass cull” of its staff in 2007 – when the government chopped £400 million from drug tariff prices in the Category M clawback – and the chain “doesn’t intend to now”, he said.

Day Lewis will instead make savings by becoming more efficient in buying drugs, holding stock and claiming on losses, Mr Patel said.

“The biggest opportunity to save cost in pharmacy is processes, not people. If [we] clamp that down, we should be able to ride this through,” he added.

All Day Lewis teams have been asked to set "aspirational targets" and the company has budgeted to make more savings, he said.

Will your business struggle because of the cuts? 

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