Part of The Pharmacist’s series of case studies on how the funding cuts are affecting ordinary pharmacists, a Hertfordshire contractor explains what effect they are having on his business

Graham Phillips – superintendent pharmacist of the Manor Pharmacy Group, made up of nine community pharmacies located across Hertfordshire

‘The funding cuts have been disastrous. We are making no profits basically.

‘We have tried everything we could to cope with the cuts. We tried to cut our costs and get a higher turnover. We have done everything we could to maximise our medicine use reviews (MURs) and new medicine services (NMSs).

‘We knew the impact of the cuts would be bad but it has been worse than expected because, combined with the cuts, there are more costs.

‘There are always cuts around Category M and there will be an increase in costs due to minimum wage, pension and other requirements. All those cuts have contrived to cut away our bottom line.

‘Even if we did get 100% of the Quality Payment Scheme payments, we have lost money.

‘Across our group, we estimate losing at least £200,000, possibly more, over the period. That is despite having two branches in the Pharmacy Access Scheme.

‘But our financial losses would have been worse if those branches were not protected by the scheme. They have suffered from some cuts but they have not been affected too badly.

‘Among all our branches, the ones that are the most affected are the largest ones because, even if they continue to have the overheads, the margin’s cut is not made via customers’ prescriptions.

‘I feel weak about the future.’

We want to hear your stories about how the cuts are affecting your business. Email [email protected] or tweet us @Pharmacist_News.

More cuts case studies:

‘We have increased dispensing volume and offset the funding reduction’

 ‘I’m not confident about the future’

‘The future looks bleak for community pharmacy’

‘Community pharmacy has changed, but it hasn’t died’