More than 50 pharmacies have closed in the last three years despite being given despite special protection funding from the government under the Pharmacy Access Scheme.

This represents 4% of the 1,444 pharmacies eligible to claim funding under the scheme – set up to 'capture the pharmacies that are most important for patient access, those pharmacies where patient and public access would be affected should they close', according to the NHS.

Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), said it was 'horrifying' that 'so many of the pharmacies singled out by the government as in need of special support to protect their communities are now shut for good'.

Under the 2019 Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF), up to £20m of the funding allocated to the sector each year can be claimed by eligible pharmacies under the Pharmacy Access Scheme.

Some 1,444 pharmacies were listed as eligible for the scheme when it launched on 1 January 2022, based in 'areas that may be at risk of reduced access, for example, where a local population relies on a single pharmacy'.

But since then, at least 58 of those pharmacies have closed, the NPA has said.

This includes Bishop's Lydeard Pharmacy, in Somerset, where patients must travel four miles or a 30 minute bus journey to get to their nearest alternative pharmacy, the NPA said.

And following the closure of Wheaton Aston Pharmacy in Stafford, patients must travel nearly six miles to get to their nearest alternative pharmacy, the NPA added.

Mr Kaye said the NPA's analysis of the closures 'shows the potentially devastating impact on patients if they lose their local pharmacy to chronic underfunding', which he said 'has cut a swathe through local health services in the past 10 years'.

He added: 'Pharmacies are a haven of invaluable health advice, medicine supplies and local expertise upon which millions of people rely but are still closing at an alarming rate. We have been calling on the government for emergency funding to halt the closures and unleash the power of the pharmacy network to drive care in our communities and this is still more evidence that they need to act now.'

In response to the NPA's analysis, a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: 'Community pharmacy has a vital role to play as we shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community, through our 10 Year Health Plan.

'Unfortunately, we inherited a system that has been neglected for too long and isn’t supporting the pharmacists we need to deliver for patients at a local level.

'We will work with the sector, making better use of the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, to build a service fit for the future.'

And the DHSC confirmed that negotiations on the community pharmacy contractual framework would recommence shortly.

Before Christmas, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said he was 'very focused on getting these negotiations started early in the new year'.

And health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said he was 'working through' a funding package to stabilise the community pharmacy sector.

In the parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee (HSCC) investigation into the government's pharmacy commitments last year, a panel said that since funding for the Pharmacy Access Scheme was fixed within overall funding for community pharmacy, it was ‘likely to be insufficient to protect access to local pharmaceutical services in areas with fewer pharmacies’.

In its response at the time, the DHSC said that the scheme 'aims to provide a certain stability to business owners and is not sufficient alone to ensure business viability'.

It said payments made under the scheme 'do not intend to compensate for the difference between income required to make a pharmacy viable and income generated by the business'.

And it added that the scheme 'was never intended as a general means to prevent closures or ensure fixed funding levels'.