𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Two-thirds of pharmacies are in danger of “imminent closure”, with owners “remortgaging their own homes or raiding pension pots” to stay open. Thousands of pharmacies across England have joined forces to tell Health Secretary Wes Streeting they may have to cut services within weeks unless he takes urgent action.

Already struggling pharmacies face “a cliff edge of cost rises”, including the challenge of paying higher business rates and an increased minimum wage from April. The letter from 3,200 independent pharmacies describes the “desperate situation we face at the front line of the NHS”. They warn Mr Streeting: “Our pharmacies are in high streets, in villages, in communities and collectively we see millions of patients – your voters – every day.”

The pharmacists, who serve an estimated 15.5million patients, claim there is a gap of more than £2billion between NHS funding and the cost of running a pharmacy.

“Lives depend on our service,” they write.

“Our pharmacies are routinely subsidising NHS prescriptions – despite our work to save the NHS billions by driving down medicine prices. That is simply not right.”

The letter comes on the heels of a survey by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which found that about two out of three pharmacies operated at a loss last year.

The NPA claims eight pharmacies closed in England in January, with 95% telling the association they are not in a position financially to support the Government’s ambitions to move care into the community.

Olivier Picard, who chairs the NPA, said: “The fact that so many pharmacies operate at a loss should set off serious alarm bells in Government about the stability of medicine supply on which millions of people depend.

“Pharmacies serving millions of patients are at real risk of closure as a tsunami of new costs arrive, and are faced with agonising decisions about how they can continue.

“Without urgent action, millions of patients risk losing the most accessible part of the NHS – their local pharmacy. This is now a question of patient access and NHS resilience, not just pharmacy funding.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Community pharmacies are a vital front door to the NHS, and we’re working hard to turn around a decade of underfunding and neglect that left the sector on the brink of collapse.

“This year, we increased community pharmacy funding to £3.1billion, which is the largest uplift for any part of the NHS over the last two years. This will help us give patients more care closer to home, freeing up GP appointments.

“Pharmacies are central to our shift towards community-based care, with services like free contraceptive consultations already reaching over 660,000 in the 12 months up to August 2025 – a 300% increase from the year before.”