Community Pharmacy Closures

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Tuesday 28th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

Some 98% of pharmacies are signed up to Pharmacy First and I am glad about how it is developing. On the noble Baroness’s very real points, the majority of recent closures were the result of large pharmacy chains optimising their portfolios. As she is aware, community pharmacies are private businesses, although they earn most their income from the NHS. Those business models vary significantly.

Local authorities are required to undertake a pharmaceutical needs assessment every three years to assess whether the population is being served. Integrated care boards have to give regard to those needs assessments when they review applications from new contractors and seek to fill any gaps. This continues to be work in progress to which we must be alert, but it is also important to look at some of the reasons for the closures.

[Lord Fowler (CB)]

My Lords, is it not true that we have not used community pharmacies in this country to their full potential? That impression was confirmed for me when I was chairman of such a group. Should our policy not be to develop community pharmacies so that they make an even bigger contribution to public health in this country? Would it not be better if pharmacists’ income came from that kind of effort, rather than from asking them to rely on the sale of cosmetics and other over the counter, commercial products?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

Commercial over the counter products will have a part to play. However, I take the point that the noble Lord makes. I am sure it is true that their vital role, and the opportunities that they offer, were not exploited as much as they could have been—when I say “exploited”, I mean that in a positive way. The Minister for Care, Stephen Kinnock, issued a press release today. In his last point he says:

“I am committed to working closely with Community Pharmacy England to agree a package of funding that is reflective of the important support that they provide to patients up and down the country. I am confident that together we can get the sector back on its feet and fit for pharmacies and patients long into the future”.