Healthwatch Isle of Wight has warned that temporary pharmacy closures are adding to the deepening crisis in the sector.
In 2022-23, there were 11,414 community pharmacies in England, including 313 across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
However, data from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows that the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board reported 18 pharmacies closed permanently between 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2023. This means that, on average, more than 1 closed permanently every month.
During the same period, 346 temporary closures were reported across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, resulting in 1,252 hours lost and an average closure length of 4 hours.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board reported staff shortages, such as problems finding a locum, were the main reason of temporary closures.
The findings come from FOI requests that the national patient champion Healthwatch England issued to all 42 Integrated Care Boards in England. It asked each ICB to provide figures for permanent and temporary closures, the duration of each temporary closure, and the reasons why each pharmacy closed. These figures were used to calculate the average duration of pharmacy closures, their total length and how many working days this amounted to.
The Isle of Wight has been hit particularly hard with short notice closures of pharmacies, with availability of pharmacists being cited as the main reason for closures, often at short notice.
Joanna Smith, manager of Healthwatch Isle of Wight, has said:
“We have been raising concerns about short notice pharmacy closures both locally and regionally as we are concerned about the impact this is having on people who are struggling to get their medication.
“We would urge the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board to ensure that pharmacies give people more notice of pharmacy closures and provide better signposting to other services. We also ask people to contact us if they are being impacted by pharmacy closures, so we can escalate their concerns.”
The full Healthwatch England report can be found here: Pharmacy closures in England | Healthwatch.
Until the government get the message and ensure that the NHS contract remunerates Pharmacies adequately for the numerous services that they provide, it will only get worse.
More and more Pharmacies will close and once gone they will add more pressure to the remaining underfunded ones.
Wes Streeting and Karyn Smith need to get a grip on this now. They need to focus on this.
With GP surgeries in crisis too they need to fund Pharmacies to ensure that they are viable to maintain ever increasing service requirements.