Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the closure of over 1,000 pharmacies since 2015; and what assessment they have made of the impact of pharmacy closures in deprived areas.

There were 10,613 pharmacies on 31 January 2024 providing National Health Services in England. The Department monitors changes to the market closely to understand patient access to NHS pharmaceutical services. Access remains good, with 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking distance of a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas of the country. We have seen more closures in the more deprived areas, but that is largely what we would expect as there are more pharmacies in those areas.

The law requires that every three years, local authority Health and Wellbeing Boards undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments to understand if provision is sufficient to meet local population needs. Contractors can apply to open a pharmacy where there is a gap or a need for improved access to services, or if they can make a case for providing other benefits to the local communities.

When their usual local pharmacy closes, patients can choose to access any of the remaining pharmacies nearby. Patients can also choose to access NHS pharmaceutical services remotely through any of the approximately 400 internet pharmacies in England, which are contractually required to deliver medicines to patients’ homes free of charge.