Supporting Local Pharmacies

 Peter Dowd MP has signed a letter to the Prime Minister highlighting the importance of local pharmacies and calls for action to prevent further closures.  

The letter, signed by 24 parliamentarians, stresses the potential for pharmacies to help clear the backlogs in healthcare but also warns that worse could be yet to come after “spiralling business costs” and “year after year of real terms funding cuts” have led to hundreds of pharmacy closures.

New data from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) shows that 639 vital local pharmacies have been lost in England since 2016. “This is the equivalent to just short of one pharmacy closure per constituency”, the cross-party group warn.  

The letter comes as MPs came together at a parliamentary summit to call for pharmacies to be embraced as a “game-changer” for tackling healthcare backlogs and taking pressure off other areas of the NHS. Local pharmacy teams remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and played a vital role in delivering COVID-19 vaccines. Now a dangerous combination of underfunding, workforce pressures and a rise in physical and verbal abuse is “pushing pharmacies to the brink”.

Peter said:

“Pharmacy teams play a vital role in our healthcare system and have the potential to do so much more with the proper resources. Looking ahead, I will continue working with local pharmacists in Bootle in order to recognise the valuable work that they do for the community. Therefore, I am backing action to ensure that future commissioning and associated funding recognises community pharmacies as the front door to primary care for many patients as they are an invaluable network that can be relied upon to manage growing healthcare challenges.”