An Opposition Day debate in parliament yesterday drew attention to 'struggling' community pharmacies dispensing at a loss.

This comes as the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has highlighted the manifold differences between price concessions and wholesaler prices, describing the situation as a 'national scandal'.

Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson and MP for North Shropshire Helen Morgan was among several MPs speaking about community pharmacies in the House of Commons yesterday.

Independent pharmacies can't keep absorbing dispensing costs

She shared that Green End pharmacy in her constituency of Whitchurch had told her that as an independent pharmacy, it was 'unable to keep on absorbing costs with losses on dispensing'.

Ms Morgan commented: 'The pharmacy is struggling because it is making losses on the drugs that it gives out on prescription. Given that it is a small, independent pharmacy, it does not have a massive shop from which to make profits to subside that work.'

And she highlighted a 'postcode lottery of access' to pharmacies due to real-terms funding cuts, closures and 'many pharmacies being unable to have a full-time pharmacist and relying on locums, which has led to a really poor and insecure level of service'.

NPA: Dispensing at a loss 'a national scandal'

The parliamentary attention on the sector came as the NPA released a snapshot comparison that revealed significant differences between wholesaler prices and price concessions for several commonly-dispensed drugs.

Paul Rees, NPA chief executive, said: 'It is nothing short of a national scandal that pharmacies have to dig deep into their own pockets just to cover the cost of basic medicines that they dispense to patients in need of treatment.

'No other health professional would be asked to subsidise a key NHS service.

'The system for funding the medicines upon which millions of patients rely is utterly broken. We share the government’s ambitions to  expand the role of pharmacies but this cannot happen whilst they are being forced to closing at record numbers by chronic underfunding.

'The government must step in now to halt pharmacy closures, fix the broken funding system and deliver a new deal for pharmacies which will end the terrible toll of closures and cuts to services.'

DHSC: 'Safeguards' are in place in case of price increases

In response, a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: 'This government inherited a broken NHS but is committed to expanding the role of pharmacists, making better use of the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

'We already reimburse community pharmacies for what they spend on drugs and provide additional funding for the services they provide. There are also safeguards in place if purchase prices for a given drug increase.'