Patients stranded without medicine as pharmacies close in isolated areas

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1. Patients are being [left stranded without access to medicine](https://inews.co.uk/news/pharmacists-england-not-coping-pressures-medicine-waits-3335702?ico=in-line_link) as [pharmacies close](https://inews.co.uk/news/health/paitents-waiting-days-vital-medicine-pharmacies-verge-collapse-3383329?srsltid=AfmBOorm5U2SNSGLsmEBiyPGBuagsOpt7-kRC4KbWkqj7tzfJ5tR2QpJ&ico=in-line_link) in isolated areas, *The i Paper* can reveal.

   Dozens of pharmacies earmarked by the Government as vital to their communities have shut their doors in the past two years, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).

   At least 58 specially protected pharmacies have closed since 2022 amid a lack of government funding, the trade body’s analysis of the national register of pharmacies found.

   These pharmacies were identified as being in areas where people do not have ready access to medication and where deprivation levels are significantly higher than average.

   The Government sets aside £20m a year for a scheme to subsidise these pharmacies but the NPA – which represents independent pharmacies across the UK – said the funding does not go far enough to compensate for a decade of budget cuts.

   Community pharmacies receive around 90 per cent of their income from the NHS.

   The NPA warned that patients were being left travelling long distances for vital medication or advice.

   Patients who used to be served by Wheaton Aston Pharmacy in Stafford now have a nearly 6 mile journey to get to a pharmacy.

   Those who previously went to Bishop’s Lydeard Pharmacy, Somerset, now have to travel four miles – or a 30 minute bus journey – to get to their nearest pharmacy.

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