The UK is the “sick man of Europe on pharmacy numbers” and “bottom of the league for spending on medicines”, according to “shocking” NPA analysis published today (December 7).
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) figures show that the UK “is already one of the worst countries in the OECD for access to pharmacies”, the NPA said.
The 2023 stats revealed that the UK has the tenth fewest number of pharmacies per head out of 31 countries, less “than Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, France and a host of other nations”, the NPA added.
Read more: NPA gives DH ‘time to digest’ results of 99% ‘Yes’ collective action ballot
This data was published before an additional several hundred pharmacies shut in England, it stressed.
“Meanwhile, an average UK pharmacy serves around 5,700 patients more than France” and “all comparable countries served fewer patients”, the NPA said.
Read more: CPE ‘united in anger’ as pharmacy contract negotiations ‘stuck’
It added that data analysis by company Statista found that the UK spent the eighth least on pharmaceuticals per capita out of 32 countries in 2023.
“The UK spends less on its medicines per head of population than Australia, Ireland, Japan, the US, Spain, Germany and Italy,” the NPA said.
“Damning”
NPA chair Nick Kaye said that the “shocking new figures show that the UK is the ‘sick man of Europe’ when it comes to spending on vital medicines and community pharmacies”.
“It is damning that UK pharmacies serve more patients than comparative countries while also receiving ever-reducing levels of funding,” he added.
Read more: High street pharmacies ‘extinct’ by 2039 at current closure rate
“Community pharmacies have the potential to deliver so much more for patients” but “this cannot happen with funding at its current levels and pharmacies shutting at record rates”, he said.
“The government must get round the table and start to deliver the funding necessary so we can stop the closures and deliver the best possible care for patients,” he added.
Read more: Kinnock: ‘Pharmacies are private businesses’ and closures ‘reflect many factors’
“As our ballot result showed, many pharmacy owners feel pushed to breaking point thanks to the impact of 40% cuts to their funding and increases in their workload,” he said.
Last month, the NPA announced that some 99% of England pharmacy owners who participated in its collective action vote approve of limiting pharmacy services unless funding is improved.
But it told C+D that despite previously planning to act on any mandate before Christmas, it would make any recommendations on collective action in January, should the government fail to make a satisfactory community pharmacy contract offer.
Read more: ‘New normal’ of medicine shortages a ‘significant burden on pharmacists’
And this week, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) expressed “severe frustration and intense anger” when it revealed that pharmacy contract negotiations are “stuck” between the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and NHS England (NHSE).
Meanwhile, leaders from the NPA, Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA), CPE and the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) last week penned a joint letter to health secretary Wes Streeting warning of pharmacy closures caused by the autumn budget.
