Rising financial and operational pressures have forced large numbers of pharmacies to stop hiring locum staff “on cost grounds,” a new poll from Community Pharmacy England suggests. 

The poll of 92 business owners representing 2,114 pharmacies, which was conducted over 16 days in June, also revealed that 81 per cent had stopped opening during extended hours. 

The vast majority of – 96.4 per cent – had stopped offering locally commissioned services such as emergency contraception provision, enhanced smoking cessation or local minor ailments schemes. 

Meanwhile, 29.6 per cent had stopped providing nationally commissioned advanced services, and 20 per cent had stopped their free medicine delivery service. 

Unpredictable revenue streams were cited as the source of the most intense pressures, with a third of respondents ranking this as the biggest problem facing the sector and almost all other respondents ranking it in the top three. 

Rising workforce costs came out as the second biggest challenge, with medicine market instability and increased demand for services and healthcare advices also cited as major challenges. 

The current collective work-to-rule action by GPs across England will only add to the pressures on pharmacies, CPE commented as it called on the Government to offer the sector “urgent help”. 

CPE chief executive Janet Morrison commented: “With GP work-to-rule action now underway, many people are turning to their local pharmacies for help, as happened in the pandemic. But with pharmacies already under considerable strain, any additional workload will only exacerbate the situation.

“We will continue to fight for fair funding for community pharmacies across England, using a range of tactics including political and public influencing. 

“Working to secure national media coverage is just one part of our plans to raise awareness of the immense pressures on pharmacies and the difficult decisions they are being forced to make.”

National Pharmacy Association chair Nick Kaye said: “The Government should be investing in us to reduce GP waiting times, but right now we are going backwards instead of fulfilling our potential as skilled clinicians.

“If GPs limit the number of daily appointments, more patients will come to community pharmacies for help, but we are not in great shape after years of cuts.”