Around 5,800 pharmacy working days lost to temporary closures, says Healthwatch England

More than 48,000 pharmacy opening hours were lost to temporary closures in England in 2023 – equivalent to around 5,800 working days – and more than 400 pharmacies closed permanently, new research from Healthwatch England has found.

The Pharmacy closures in England briefing, published today (26th September), calls for greater support for pharmacy teams to give appropriate advice to the public on closures and a national evaluation of the issues facing pharmacy including funding and workforce shortages.

Following on from Healthwatch’s ‘Pharmacy: what people want‘ report which uncovered patient frustrations around permanent and temporary pharmacy closures, this new publication analyses the scale of closures in the past calendar year (1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023).

The data shows that while permanent and temporary pharmacy closures are an issue across the country, there is a high degree of variation in the scale of the issue, particularly between rural and urban Integrated Care Board (ICB) areas. Healthwatch also discovered that older people – who are more likely to use pharmacy services – may be least well served when it comes to accessing them.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the data also shows a correlation between staffing and the number of hours pharmacies were temporarily closed for. Healthwatch is calling for regular examination of monthly closure figures to inform workforce planning and tackle persistent issues.

The briefing also recognises the recent expansion of pharmacy’s role and the importance of the Pharmacy First service, noting that patients and the public value the convenient timely and high-quality care provided by community pharmacies.

Healthwatch hopes its latest analysis will help raise awareness of pharmacy closures and encourages action to be taken to better understand the scale of the problem and how it can be addressed.

Read the ‘Pharmacy closures in England’ briefing

Healthwatch has also produced an interactive map of pharmacy closures in England.

Key findings from the report:

• 436 pharmacies closed permanently in England, just under 4% of all pharmacies in the country.
• 13,863 instances of temporary pharmacy closure were recorded, and 48,706 hours were lost to temporary closure. This represents around 5,800 working days.
• There was significant variation across England in the number of pharmacies which closed permanently and temporarily. Cheshire and Merseyside ICB reported the highest number of permanent closures, whilst North East and North Cumbria ICB had the highest number of temporary closures. Norfolk and Waveney ICB reported the most working hours lost per pharmacy.
• Pharmacy closures were more severe in rural areas and areas with an older population.
• The chief reason for temporary pharmacy closure was a lack of staff availability.

Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy England, said:

“Community pharmacies are working incredibly hard to support their local patients and communities, but this Healthwatch report is yet more evidence showing just how desperate the situation for pharmacies has now become. Ongoing financial, operational and workforce pressures are combining to leave pharmacies at crisis point, putting medicines supply and other patient services at serious risk. Community pharmacies urgently need their core funding to be uplifted to stabilise the sector, halt the trend of pharmacy closures, and allow pharmacies to keep doing what they do best: supporting local communities and the wider NHS. Without this stabilisation we can expect the trend of pharmacy closures to continue, with a risk of the sector collapsing under the strain.”