More pharmacies in Newcastle will shut down without urgent Government intervention to deal with an “entirely avoidable storm”, one owner predicts.

Tony Schofield has warned that Tyneside pharmacies are “struggling to cope” with having to take on hundreds of extra patients following closures by large chains like Boots, adding to major financial pressure posed by rent and energy bill hikes.

He has spoken out after complaints from Newcastle City Council leader Nick Kemp that the closure of Boots chemist branches in areas like Heaton and Kenton had resulted in huge queues and “incredible delays” at some of the city’s remaining pharmacies.

Mr Schofield, who owns the Molineux Pharmacy in Byker, has now issued a plea for ministers to provide more funding to help keep pharmacies afloat or risk seeing more more cut their hours or close down entirely.

He said: “Community pharmacists have for eight years been warning of this entirely avoidable storm. The Government continues to parrot the £2.6 billion they pay to the profession but what they don’t ever say is that in 2016 the figure was cut from £2.8 billion and it hasn’t increased by a penny since.

“That is despite inflation, increasing wage and energy costs, pharmacists leaving the sector to work elsewhere other than in their communities, exorbitant rent rises – particularly in NHS controlled premises – and a system in which price rises and increasing shortages of vital drugs have meant pharmacies are being paid less for drugs than it actually costs to provide them. Pharmacies have had campaigns about unfair funding for several years all ignored by the Department of Health. This is not a local problem; it is a national problem.”

Mr Schofield, whose businesses also include the Walkergate and St Anthony’s pharmacies, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that trying to cope with queues of new patients whose previous pharmacies have been closed had led to some unpleasant confrontations and was taking a toll on staff.

Boots has closed five of its locations in Newcastle over the last 12 months – in Jesmond, Byker, Cruddas Park, Kenton and Heaton.

City health leaders were told last week that 34 across the North East and North Cumbria region were lost in 2023/24, with the biggest decline being in deprived communities, and that some contractors were having to pump huge amounts of their own money in to keep their pharmacies open.

Mr Schofield added: “Remaining pharmacies, afflicted by the same attrition as Boots and others, are finding it hard to pick up and support patients now needing a new pharmacy. We also face those same pressures.

“Services such as Pharmacy First are being moved over into pharmacies to alleviate pressure on GPs, but this is adding pressure onto pharmacies that are also struggling to cope with the added demand of having to take on hundreds, potentially thousands, of extra patients. Some have said we should be pleased to get this “new business” but unfortunately it is just more work we have to fund and it’s at a loss. Hence reports of long waits as patients are accommodated by the new pharmacy.

“Of course, patients are upset and many are taking this out on pharmacy staff. Unfortunately, this is not helping morale and staff are leaving the sector making it even harder to provide the quality service patients deserve.

“The closures of pharmacies is accelerating. The National Pharmacy Association has established that this year 10 pharmacies per week are closing in England.

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“If community leaders and MPs are serious about the pharmacy closure rate they must put pressure on Andrea Leadsom, the minister responsible for this disgraceful situation. Fair funding for community pharmacies must be a high priority or more pharmacies in Newcastle, the North East and the rest of England, will close, and very soon.”

The Department of Health and Social Care insisted that it had made “significant new funding available”.

A spokesperson said: “More than four in five people live within a 20-minute walk of a pharmacy, and there are twice as many pharmacies in deprived areas, making access to care quicker and more convenient.

“We have made significant new funding available over two years to support the expansion of community pharmacy services, including Pharmacy First, which comes on top of the £2.6 billion a year pharmacies already receive. We are also consulting with Community Pharmacy England on the funding and contract arrangements for 2024/25.”