Pharmacies 'in danger' as six are set to close in Norfolk

Pharmacist Mansour Dadkha said things are getting "harder and harder" for his business

A pharmacist says his industry is "in danger" as six chemists look set to close in one county alone.

Mansour Dadkha, who runs the independent Town Pharmacy in Great Yarmouth, said his business was "busier" - but profit margins were decreasing.

Five of the six chemists closing in Norfolk are Lloyds Pharmacies.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said the government was "supporting" pharmacies.

A spokesman for Lloyds Pharmacy said the decision was not easy but it had decided to close the branches "in response to changing market conditions".

The number of pharmacies in England has fallen by 160 over the last two years, according to BBC analysis.

A new plan in England unveiled by the NHS in May included asking people to use high street pharmacies in certain circumstances to reduce pressure on GPs.

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Mr Dadkha told BBC Radio Norfolk that the more prescriptions he deals with, the "less I'm getting paid from the NHS".

"The staff wages have gone up, getting suitable, qualified staff has become tricky, and the local pharmacist wages have almost doubled over the last two years, so almost everything has gone up except our funding," he added.

He said pharmacies that deal with fewer volumes of prescriptions would be "in danger" if they do not spend their time on other services.

The pharmacist was "hopeful" about the future, and said his business would "still try to be the heart and soul of patient contact".

A new NHS England plan in May revealed pharmacists will help reduce pressure on GPs

Alex Stewart, chief executive of the patient group Healthwatch Norfolk, said the closure of five Lloyds Pharmacies - based in Sainsbury's supermarkets - was "concerning".

The pharmacies have been "such huge a contributor to availability across Norfolk and Waveney," he said.

"They're hugely important because if you go into any pharmacist, they're not just providing you with medicine... they're also a community resource."

'Not just a job'

Pharmacies have had "flat funding for over five years and funding was cut a couple years before that," said Lauren Seamons, from Norfolk's Local Pharmaceutical Committee.

It is "really difficult" for them to "make ends meet" as running costs rise, she added.

"Their pharmacies are not just a job, it's not just a business - it is their entire life."

She said late opening pharmacies, like the five Lloyds Pharmacies closing, helped with "reducing the pressure on A&E and out of hour services".

Pharmacies can be the "solution" to reducing strain on GPs, but they need the "right support" to do so, Ms Seamons said.

The DHSC said an extra £100m was invested in the sector last September.

The spokesperson said: "We are supporting pharmacies to provide a range of clinical services and we are increasing the services pharmacists - who are degree-qualified medical health professionals - can provide to their community, including managing oral contraception."