South West health correspondent
BBCA Devon pharmacist says he is having to use his savings and take on a big overdraft to keep his business afloat.
Phil Dawes, 62, of Crapstone, says rising employment costs and the drug prices means he is having to use his own home as a guarantee against taking on more debt to fund the business, which has three sites in Modbury, Tavistock and Plymouth.
“We’ve had to put our house up as security to get that overdraft in place and at times there isn’t the cashflow to pay the wholesalers on time at the end of the month,” he said.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says it is “working to turn around a decade of underfunding and neglect that has left the sector on the brink of collapse”.
Mr Dawes said he had had to use his savings to fund all three pharmacies but Modbury was the worst affected.
“We have had to take on a bigger overdraft to fund the business.
“It’s been here 80-plus years as a pharmacy. Our patients rely upon us.
“There is an expectation that we will always be here for them when they need us but there is only so much we can do to maintain things as they are without further support,” he said.
Mr Dawes says his rural pharmacy does not get the footfall to reach the threshold for the government’s Pharmacy First scheme, which aims to treat patients in a pharmacy rather than in a GP surgery and which pays a fixed monthly rate of £1,000.
Specific fees are also paid for each consultation conducted under the scheme.
“We do provide the services the government wants us to provide but we’re not able to provide enough of them to reach the thresholds that are put in place to release the funding that we need,” he said.
‘Propped up’
Surveys by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and Community Pharmacy England (CPE) found that nearly half of pharmacy owners had been forced to remortgage their homes or raid personal savings in the past year to subsidise the cost of medicines for patients, with services being put at risk.
The NPA is warning up to 63% of pharmacies could close in the next year, with about four in 10 being unable to pay in full for the cost of prescription medication for patients. That is despite a much-needed uplift in their funding announced earlier this year.
Henry Gregg, NPA chief executive, said: “No NHS service should be being propped up by the personal savings or mortgages of the individuals running it.
“It’s clear that the scale of the challenge this government has inherited is enormous.
“Despite recent positive moves in the right direction, these surveys show many pharmacies are teetering on the brink and need support if they are to survive and achieve their full potential.”
Mr Gregg said the NHS 10-year plan was a historic opportunity to “finally shift care into communities and expand the role of community pharmacy in a way we have never seen before”.
“However, this cannot be done whilst pharmacies are unable to pay their bills and keep their doors open.
“We need additional funding to stabilise the pharmacy network and allow pharmacies to invest in new services.”
Rachel Fergie, chair of Community Pharmacy Devon, said she had seen the workload in the Kingsbridge Pharmacy she runs increase following the closure of a nearby pharmacy in Salcombe.
“The situation is pretty grave across Devon, particularly in coastal and rural areas.
“In those pharmacies, we have seen quite a decline.
“Over the last three years, we have lost 22 pharmacies across Devon, which is a significant number. That’s 10% of the representation.”
A DHSC spokesperson added: “Community pharmacists are at the heart of local healthcare and we’re working to turn around a decade of underfunding and neglect that has left the sector on the brink of collapse.
“We want them to play a bigger role as we shift care out of hospitals and into the community through our Plan for Change.
“This year we increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1bn – representing the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS for 2025/2026 – providing patients with more services closer to home and freeing up GP appointments.”