Portsmouth sees 20% of pharmacies close in five years

The closures have been blamed on staff shortages, funding issues and rising costs

A city has held its first pharmacy summit to address the rising number of closures in the area.

It comes as figures revealed Portsmouth had lost about 20% of its pharmacies in the past five years - down from 41 to 32.

The event, hosted by Portsmouth City Council, saw NHS leaders and industry professionals discuss the challenges faced locally.

The closures have been blamed on staff shortages, funding and rising costs.

Raj Laly, from Laly's Pharmacy, says more is expected from chemists nowadays

Dr Raj Laly, director of Laly's Pharmacy, which has 11 chemists across Hampshire, said part of the problem was funding cuts.

"It's at a time when the demand for what pharmacies are required to do has increased, so it's been very difficult for groups to survive," he said.

"That's why you're seeing lost of closures happening at this time."

Earlier this year, BBC analysis found the number of pharmacies in England had fallen by 160 over the past two years.

Just over 11,000 community chemists remained in the country, according to data from NHS Business Services Authority, the lowest number since 2015.

This was despite a recent NHS plan which included asking people to use high street pharmacies in certain circumstances to reduce pressure on GPs.

In January, the pharmacy group Lloyds announced it was closing 237 of its branches within Sainsbury's supermarkets across the country in response to "changing market conditions".

At the summit in Portsmouth, the council's cabinet member for health Matthew Winnington said people would be "stuck" without their pharmacist.

He believed coastal communities like Portsmouth, Bristol and Brighton were more likely to see closures.

"We really would fall apart - we don't want to see any more close," he added.

Many pharmacy users are experiencing longer waits for prescriptions

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