Independent pharmacies in England face crisis due to funding uncertainty, prompting the National Pharmacy Association to recommend reduced opening hours. With 90% of their operations funded by the NHS, pharmacies are particularly affected by rising national insurance, wages, and business rates. Many have already closed, and the NPA fears that ongoing financial instability jeopardizes patient safety. Individual pharmacies must provide notice before service reductions, which may include reduced evening and weekend hours or elimination of key health services. The NPA urges a government funding response by April to avert further decline.
It is better that we temporarily reduce access in the short term than let pharmacies collapse altogether under the weight of unsustainable operating costs.
Pharmacies have shut in record numbers and those that are left are hanging on by their fingernails waiting for the delivery of a financial settlement that protects services on which millions of people rely.
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