FERMANAGH pharmacies could be set to cut their working hours and stop home deliveries as a lack of funding and financial support continues to have a devastating impact on the health sector.
The National Pharmacy Association recently ran a ballot with some pharmacy owners in the North, England and Wales voting in favour of a protest, in a bid to secure some investment.
Community pharmacies are struggling, with a survey revealing that funding has been cut by 30 per cent since 2015, resulting in a shortfall of between £67,000 and £100,000 per pharmacy.
Enniskillen pharmacist, Paul Hughes, previously slammed the Stormont Executive and the UK Government for not supporting the industry which provides a vital service to the local community.
“We’re not being funded properly by the Government and there’s a lot of community pharmacies in the North that are working at a loss. I am dispensing some prescriptions at a loss,” he fumed.
Pharmacy owners have hit out at the UK Government for not pledging enough financial support to the industry in the Budget, which was delivered recently by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer.
With a reported 700 pharmacies closing down in England over the past two years, the National Pharmacy Association estimates that around £1.7 billion is needed in funding to curb the crisis.
The Enniskillen pharmacist feels the lack of funding is having a knock-on effect on recruitment.
“We’ve not had a rise in our global sum in 10 years and we’re on the breadline,” Mr Hughes said.
“Even the young graduates are not staying in Northern Ireland, they’re going down South because the working conditions are so much better and the wages are better so they can afford it.
“We’re finding it harder to get more and more people to come and work on a full-time basis.”
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