Pharmacies in England have cut their weekend opening hours by “more than 20% since 2022” due to a “crisis in NHS funding”, analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has found.
The NPA said today that “chronic underfunding” has led to one in six pharmacies – around 1600 – cutting their opening hours on weekends.
And the body’s analysis of NHS data also revealed that 8% of pharmacies have chosen to “shut entirely on Saturday and Sunday in the last four years alone”.
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Data showed that “more than 16,000 hours of pharmacy time on weekends has been lost in the last four years”, with only 17% of pharmacies still open to patients on a Sunday, the NPA said.
It found that Cornwall had seen the “highest percentage drop” in Sunday openings since 2022, with “34% fewer pharmacies” opening on a Sunday compared to four years ago.
According to the NPA, there have been reports of patients “facing journeys of nearly an hour to reach their nearest pharmacy on Sunday” in parts of Cornwall.
“Broken contract”
Pharmacies have warned that “funding shortfalls have led directly to reduced access to medicines and health advice for minor ailments, particularly on Sundays” as they are “forced to cut costs to remain open”, the NPA said.
This “sharp reduction” in opening hours has forced patients to sometimes “resort to overcrowded A&E and urgent care departments where they can wait for hours” to get treatment that they could receive at the pharmacy, it added.
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“Pharmacies have been left with little choice but to cut back their opening hours on weekends to patients in order to keep their doors open due to intolerable and unsustainable pressures on their budgets due to a decade of underfunding,” the body stressed.
And with negotiations for the 2026/27 pharmacy contract underway, the NPA called on the government to keep its “promise to deliver a sustainable funding uplift that will stabilise the pharmacy network in England” and reform the “broken contract” between pharmacies and the NHS.
“Creaking at the seams”
NPA chair Olivier Picard said that the analysis is “yet more evidence that the pharmacy network in England is creaking at the seams after facing deep cuts over a number of years”.
“Sadly the real losers are the millions of patients these pharmacies serve, particularly those in rural areas, who are forced to travel long distances or even go to hospital if they need a prescription or advice for a minor health issue on a Sunday or late at night,” he added.
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Although the NPA recognises that the government’s funding of the sector “took a step forward last year”, Picard said, “much of the uplift disappeared to cover increasing costs including national insurance and national living wage contributions”.
And he stressed that “like the government”, the NPA wants to “expand NHS services to patients” - but noted that this can only happen with “sustained and significant investment”.
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It comes after Fairmans Pharmacy last week warned that it will have to take “devastating” measures “to survive” if the upcoming pharmacy contract does not deliver an uplift in funding.
This will include closing all six branches on Saturdays and cutting opening times to 5pm from Monday to Friday, its director Julie Forster said.
Meanwhile, sector leaders warned in November that the government’s autumn budget could lead to closures and “staff lay-offs” for community pharmacies.
