University of Warwick students are campaigning for NHS England to reinstate top-up funding for their campus pharmacy.
 
M W Phillips Pharmacy received funding as part of a national support scheme for 'essential' low volume businesses that ended on March 31. NHS England area teams are able to extend the top-up funding - designed to support small businesses at least 1km from another pharmacy - for businesses in their area. 

But M W Phillips was told by the area team for Arden, Herefordshire and Worcestershire in February that “there was not an adequate need" for the pharmacy to receive long-term financial assistance at a local level, in a letter seen by C+D. 
 
An online petition organised by students to save the pharmacy has received almost 1,500 signatures since it was published last month. Representatives said students - including "many" disabled students - would have to make a "dangerous" journey to reach alternative pharmacies if the business closed.

"Other funding options"

NHS England West Midlands has agreed to extend the pharmacy's funding until the end of June, and told C+D this would give the business time to discus other funding options with the university. "If the pharmacy does take the decision to close, the nearest alternative [is] half a mile away," it added.

But the campaigners claimed this measure was inaccurate. In an open letter to the area team, they pointed out that almost none of the more than 6,000 students who lived on campus had access to a car. Although the nearest pharmacy was a mile away "as the crow flies", this was further "in practical terms" and an "incredibly long distance to run when ill or requiring an emergency prescription", they added.

In a letter seen by C+D, the commissioner admitted that the walking distance to other pharmacies could be "considerably further" than a mile. It acknowledged that students were not allowed cars on campus and noted there was a dual carriageway between the campus exit and the nearest pharmacy. But it said its reasons for rejecting the top-up funding "remained as previously stated". 

Rob Ankcorn, the student union's development officer who is leading the campaign, told C+D on Tuesday (May 5) that he had not expected so much support. "It [the campaign] has really struck a cord," he said. Access to nearby pharmacies would require crossing an "incredibly dangerous" road where a student had died last year, he stressed. 

The pharmacy declined to comment on the student campaign.

In March, C+D launched a campaign to press NHS England for decisions on continued funding for small pharmacies. 

Are any pharmacies in your area still awaiting funding decisions?

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