Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the proposed average payments to community pharmacies were in Hampstead and Kilburn constituency under the Pharmacy Access Scheme in (a) 2015-16 (b)2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.

The Pharmacy Access Scheme was introduced from December 2016 to maintain access to National Health Service pharmaceutical services in areas where the pharmacy’s closure would have the greatest impact on patient access. To be eligible for the scheme pharmacies had to be more than one mile away from the next nearest pharmacy and not within the top 25% of pharmacies by dispensing volume. The distance criteria were reduced to 0.8 miles for pharmacies, that applied to the NHS and were in the 20% most deprived areas, where continued access was deemed critical.

Based on these criteria, there are no community pharmacies located in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency that are eligible for payments under the Pharmacy Access Scheme.