Community pharmacy owners are concerned they may not be able to stay open for much longer, with some predicting they might close in the next 12 months as financial pressures continue to bite, according to a survey by Community Pharmacy England.

A report on CPE’s latest pharmacy pressures survey, published at the weekend, revealed that almost 80 per cent of more than 900 pharmacy owners who responded to the survey, representing over 6,100 premises, are “unsure how much longer they can continue to manage the threats to their business”.

Nearly 13 per cent said they would not survive for another year and just over 3 per cent said they might close within the next six months. Less than 5 per cent said the threats to their business were “manageable”.

Almost 65 per cent said they were losing money and over 34 per cent said they were “only just” profitable, while less than 2 per cent said they were still profitable.

One pharmacist who took part in the study, Lindsey Fairbrother, who runs Good Life Pharmacy in Derbyshire, said the constant battle to keep her business going, including dispensing medicines at a loss coupled with “the lack of fair reimbursement”, has forced her to consider reducing staff hours and left her feeling “burnt-out and overwhelmed”.

“I’ve worked incredibly hard for 14 years and my patients know and rely on my pharmacy,” she said. “I can’t just throw in the towel because local people depend on NHS services and they’d be shocked and confused if we had to cut back or close.”

Inability to supply medicines “a major issue” 

More than 2,000 pharmacy team members, mainly pharmacists but also pharmacy technicians, dispensers and assistants, also took part in the survey, which revealed the pressures on pharmacies are having a detrimental impact on patients.

More than 50 per cent of pharmacy staff said patients were “being negatively affected” by the funding crisis and over 18 per cent said patients were “being severely impacted”. Nearly 80 per cent of staff said they were unable to spend as much time with patients as they would like.

Over 90 per cent said their inability to supply medicines was “a major issue” for patients, while 86 per cent revealed it was taking longer to dispense prescriptions; 80 per cent said they were unable to respond to patient phone calls and emails “as promptly as usual”.

Pressures were also hindering pharmacies’ ability to provide services, with 43 per cent of owners saying they were unable to provide some advanced services and 37 per cent not able to roll out some locally commissioned services.

Over 90 per cent of pharmacy owners said business costs are “significantly higher” compared with last year, while over 95 per cent cited staffing and medicine purchasing costs as the biggest factors for overall cost increases.

Pharmacy owners also said regulatory and administrative burdens, medicines shortages, poor infrastructure, and technology and concerns over patient safety were “key drivers of increasing costs.”