Pharmacies across England are unable to provide critical NHS and public health services owing to the overwhelming financial and operational pressures they are facing, according to research.
A poll of pharmacy owners representing more than 2,100 pharmacies found that more than 96% of respondents said they had stopped providing locally commissioned services over the past 12 months.
These include emergency contraception and products to help quit smoking.
Four in five (81%) of pharmacy owners polled said they have had to stop offering extended opening hours, while 90% have had to stop employing locum pharmacists owing to the high costs.
Of the 92 owners polled for the representative body Community Pharmacy England, more than one-fifth said they have had to end free delivery of prescription medicines to patients.
The research comes as data shows that almost 1,000 pharmacies in England have closed since 2017, with poorer areas being affected disproportionately by the closures.
The Pharmacy First scheme was fully launched on 1 January this year, with patients in England now offered treatment for seven common conditions including urinary tract infections and shingles by a chemist without having to see a GP.
Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England, said: “Across England patients and local communities are paying the price of our collapsing community pharmacy network, as thousands of pharmacies have been left with no choice but to reduce the services that they can offer. These are not decisions that any pharmacy wants to make, but with a 30% real-terms funding reduction and spiralling costs, pharmacy owners are having to make impossible decisions to try to keep their doors open.
Nick Kaye, the chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “The nation’s community pharmacies are under enormous pressure and are totally underfunded for their vital work on the health service frontline.
“This has inevitably resulted in cutbacks such as reduced opening hours and ending free medicines deliveries to housebound patients. Worse still, well over 1,000 pharmacies have been forced to close in the past decade.
“The government should be investing in us to reduce GP waiting times, but right now we are going backwards instead of fulfilling our potential as skilled clinicians.
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He added: “If GPs limit the number of daily appointments, more patients will come to community pharmacies for help, but we are not in great shape after years of cuts. Our ability to be an effective shock-absorber for disruption elsewhere in the healthcare system has been eroded and we have serious capacity challenges.
“We need a new deal for community pharmacies that properly funds our work and allows us to deliver great NHS services.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is broken, and pharmacies have been undervalued for too long.
“This government will shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community. We will expand the role of pharmacies making better use of pharmacists’ skills, including accelerating the rollout of independent prescribing and establishing a community pharmacist prescribing service.”