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Abstract

Fears have been raised that half of Islington’s pharmacies could close as a result of government funding cuts, risking further pressure on primary and urgent care services.

Following a review of pharmacy provision, the Department of Health (DoH) is proposing to cut £170m from the funding available for community pharmacies in 2016-17.

The move, which it is estimated will cost the average pharmacy £15,000 a year, has been criticised for hitting chemists at a time when they are playing an increasingly important role in providing primary care to reduce pressure on GP and A&E services.

Kalpesh Patel, who runs WC and K King Chemists, a pharmacy trading in Amwell Street, Clerkenwell, for 150 years, said: “They (the DoH) think there are too many pharmacies. But they’ve tainted us all with one brush.

“Where I am, on a hill in Amwell Street, there’s no other pharmacy in the vicinity and the Amwell Group Practice is just around the corner. The doctors there have a huge patient list. There has been a pharmacy here for 150 years but these funding cuts are making it economically unviable.”

He added: “If half of all pharmacies in the borough close all those staff are going on income support, so where is the cost saving in this?”

Camden and Islington Local Pharmaceutical Committee (CILPC), an umbrella body of pharmacies, described the proposal as a “dangerous experiment”.

CILPC chief executive Yogendra Parmar said: “[The plans] could see local pharmacies close, thereby reducing people’s access to pharmaceutical and healthcare advice, and putting extra pressure on GPs and hospitals.

“The proposals put at risk a part of the health system that holds the key to solving many of its problems. Patients would be the biggest losers.”

He added that the plans “would have a detrimental impact on patient safety and choice, and run counter to all the initiatives to drive down A&E admissions and GP appointments by using pharmacies to triage patients.”

Pharmacists have received the support of Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry, who wrote to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt earlier this month asking what he would do to prevent Islington losing half of its pharmacies.

She said: “Pharmacies are an important part of the NHS. We can’t afford to lose them. We already have massive pressure on our GP services. The government expects people to rely on local pharmacies much more and it seems they are under threat too.”

NHS England said the plans were designed to do away with the “clustering” of pharmacies, to make greater use of the skills of pharmacists in GP surgeries, A&E and care homes and to improve the use of technology.

Dr Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer at NHS England, said: “Currently 40 per cent of pharmacies are in clusters of three or more within 10 minutes of each other – each supported by NHS funds.”