October 26th 2023

By Ailsa Colquhoun

Rural pharmacy access problems highlighted in pharmacy inquiry

Concerns raised about viability and opening hours

Rural pharmacy access problems have been highlighted in written responses to the Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into Pharmacy.

In written evidence, Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire (CPL) has highlighted the negative knock-on effects for patients when dispensing GPs are not commissioned to deliver pharmacy services such as the Discharge Medicines Service. This issue has also been flagged up by the BMA in its response to the HSCSC.

The main thrust of the CPL response centres on non-viability of pharmacies in rural areas of Lincolnshire where there is less affluence and higher levels of older people and/or deprivation. However, these areas are commonly also served by dispensing GPs, it admits. In Lincolnshire, around one third of GPs are dispensing GPs, with 25 per cent having 60 per cent or more dispensing patients.

Problems with rural pharmacy access have also been highlighted in the response to the inquiry by care home provider Methodist Homes (MHA). MHA highlights problems with closures and reductions in opening hours of community pharmacies, particularly in rural areas. Its submission highlights that one care home had to send their administrator on a two-hour rural drive to the only open pharmacy to source medicines for a resident.