Over 1,000 chemists and clinics have shut since 2015, study shows

‘Sleepwalking into a disaster within primary care’: Over 1,000 chemists and clinics have shut since 2015, study shows

• There has been a net loss of 670 pharmacies and 343 GP practices this period
• Industry leaders warned the Government was ‘sleepwalking into a disaster’

More than 1,000 GP practices and pharmacies have closed over the past seven years –forcing patients to travel further for care, a damning study reveals today.

A major audit of official data on new openings and permanent closures from 2015 to 2022 lays bare the damage done to primary care in England.

It found there has been a net loss of 670 pharmacies and 343 GP practices over this period, with the most deprived areas hit hardest.

Industry leaders and MPs last night warned the Government was ‘sleepwalking into a disaster’ and called for urgent action to arrest the decline.

The analysis by the Company Chemists’ Association, which represents large pharmacy operators such as Boots, found 37 per cent of the closures have been in the 20 per cent most deprived areas.

It found there has been a net loss of 670 pharmacies and 343 GP practices over this period, with the most deprived areas hit hardest

 The analysis by the Company Chemists’ Association, which represents large pharmacy operators such as Boots, found 37 per cent of the closures have been in the 20 per cent most deprived areas

It blamed a lack of funding for the losses and fears some towns and villages could soon become ‘cold spots’ – where access to primary care is ‘significantly reduced or inadequate’.

It said primary care was ‘essential to both accessing the NHS but also the health and economic prosperity of the population’. The warning comes as the Government is preparing to publish a Primary Care Recovery Plan, expected to detail how ministers will tackle record low levels of public satisfaction with GP surgeries. It is likely to involve a greater role for pharmacists.

Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists’ Association, said: ‘The Government is sleepwalking into a disaster within primary care, and we could soon see primary care cold spots emerge in different parts of England.’

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said patients in deprived areas often had more complex health needs.

She added: ‘The loss of a GP practice or pharmacy in these areas will have a stark impact on the community.

‘Decades of underfunding and poor workforce planning have left general practice in crisis.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the number of GPs had grown in the past few years when including trainees, adding ‘there remains twice as many pharmacies in deprived areas compared to less deprived areas’.

‘Sleepwalking into a primary care disaster’

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