Britain discovered to be ‘sick man of Europe’ in relation to accessing a pharmacy regionally

Britain is the “sick man of Europe” when it comes to accessing pharmacies locally, new analysis shows.

The National Pharmacy Association says the UK has fallen behind countries such as Bulgaria and Romania after a decade of underfunding, forcing pharmacies to close for good. International OECD data shows the UK comes 22nd out of 31 nations for the number of community pharmacies for every 100,000 of the population. It has fewer by this measure than countries including Latvia, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and France.

Separate data shows the average UK pharmacy serves around 5,700 patients which is more than double in France, at 3,238 patients, and the Republic of Ireland, at 2,500 patients. Also the UK spends less on its medicines per head of population than Australia, Ireland, Japan, the US, Spain, Germany and Italy. Germany spends double what the UK does, with the US nearly three times more.

It comes after government real-term funding cuts of 40% in England over the last decade have forced over 1,500 community pharmacies to close and many more to cut back opening hours. The NPA says its analysis of the data suggests 1,000 more will close in the next three years in England alone if current funding levels persist.

The Mirror is campaigning to save family chemists and stop the closures which are piling pressure on overstretched GPs.

Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association said: “These shocking new figures show that the UK is the ‘sick man of Europe’ when it comes to spending on vital medicines and community pharmacies. It is damning that UK pharmacies serve more patients than comparative countries whilst also receiving ever reducing levels of funding.”

It comes as pharmacies are set to launch their first ever industrial action with many across Britain cutting their opening hours from January. NPA members voted to conduct ‘work to rule’ actions which can also include stopping free medicine deliveries, emergency contraception services or addiction and stop smoking support.

Mr Kaye added: “As our ballot result showed, many pharmacy owners feel pushed to breaking point thanks to the impact of 40% cuts to their funding and increases in their workload. Community pharmacies have the potential to deliver so much more for patients, including a wider range of clinical services that will help to keep pressure off other parts of our health system.

“However this cannot happen with funding at its current levels and pharmacies shutting at record rates. The government must get round the table and start to deliver the funding necessary so we can stop the closures and deliver the best possible care for patients.”