Pharmacist warns industry at 'breaking point'

Georgina Frith said her business was "suffering intense workplace pressures"

A family-run pharmacist in Surrey said pharmacies are facing a funding crisis and some are at "absolute breaking point".

Georgina Frith, the fourth generation of her family to run Frith Pharmacy in Dorking, Surrey, said her business was "suffering intense workplace pressures".

More than 60 community pharmacies have closed down in Kent, Sussex and Surrey in the last three years.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: "We regularly review pharmacy reimbursement to ensure community pharmacies are paid fairly."

Ms Frith explained that pharmacists frequently have to pay more for prescription drugs than the amount the NHS reimburses them.

"Many people probably don't realise that every pharmacist personally buys the drugs on behalf of the NHS," she said.

"Some of us are at absolute breaking point either emotionally or financially and it will lead to pharmacies leaving the high street in the same way that your post office has gone, butchers haven't survived, don't let us be the next thing.

"Independents are the absolute key to community pharmacy success because we're so invested in our communities and are passionate about what we do.

"We can have that bit of flexibility but it can't go on forever."

Dorking and Horley Lib Dem MP Chris Coghlan said losing pharmacists was devastating for local high streets

Chris Coghlan, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dorking and Horley, said pharmacies were struggling because they were "paying more for drugs than they're receiving back from the NHS" and that "they've been whacked by the employer's national insurance rise".

Describing pharmacies as a vital part of our community, he said the situation was desperate.

"I've already got pharmacies who are saying they probably need to close," he said.

"So it is an emergency and the government needs to change the NHS contract so that what pharmacies are paying for drugs is actually what they're receiving back from the NHS."

According to analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), more than 60 community pharmacies closed across the South East between October 2022 and October 2024.

Kent and Medway saw 23 permanent closures, Surrey had 18, and East and West Sussex, including Brighton and Hove, had 22.

The NPA said recent NHS statistics show an average pharmacy is now providing patients 30% more medicines than it did just four years ago, with pharmacies now dispensing over 1.16 billion prescription items a year.

Henry Gregg from the NPA said: "Unless we have an uplifting in funding for future years, actually pharmacies are going to be closing in increased numbers and we've already lost 1,400 pharmacies in the last 10 years, including many in Kent, Sussex and Surrey, and that means they can no longer provide their crucial local services."

In a statement, a DHSC spokesperson reiterated its commitment to community pharmacists saying they "have a crucial role to play as we move more care out of hospital and into the community".

"That's why we've increased funding by 19% to almost £3.1 billion compared to 2023-24 - the biggest uplift for any part of the NHS this year," said the spokesperson.

"We regularly review pharmacy reimbursement to ensure community pharmacies are paid fairly for the medicines they dispense."