FERMANAGH pharmacies are “on the breadline” with many chemists throughout the county dispensing prescriptions at a loss as the underfunding crisis ripples through the healthcare sector.
Pharmacists are pleading for help from the government as many local chemists fear they may have to pull down their shutters.
A review into community pharmacies recently revealed that funding has been reduced by 30 per cent since 2015. It’s an estimated shortfall of between £67,000 and £100,000 per pharmacy.
Enniskillen pharmacist, Paul Hughes, reckons the crisis facing pharmacies is at its worst ever.
“Community pharmacy is going through its worst phase in my lifetime,” Mr Hughes, pictured left, told the Herald.
“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 actually dispensing some prescriptions at a loss.”
Earlier this year, Belfast-based Community Pharmacy NI reported that the ongoing and worsening funding crisis has led to the closure of 12 pharmacies over the past 18 months. Hughes Pharmacy has been supporting the Enniskillen community since 1955. The funding crisis is now having a knock-on effect on staff availability, with many graduates leaving Fermanagh.
“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.”
Joe McAleer, who runs pharmacies in Belcoo and Enniskillen, previously called on greater financial support from the Government in a bid to curb the worsening underfunding crisis.
“We can’t afford to stock the volume of medicines we had before, we haven’t the money to actually invest in the stock,” Mr McAleer told BBC News recently.
“Patients are having to make multiple journeys to come in and collect their medicines because the pharmacy hasn’t got it,” he added.
With the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer set to lay out her financial plans later today, community pharmacies are already fearing that the promised health budget will not be enough.
“A neighbourhood health service means investing in our amazing community pharmacy network, which is embedded in communities across the country,” said the National Pharmacy Association.
“The reality is that many pharmacies could be forced to close down before the 10-year plan is even published in spring 2025.
“We hope that the government will stabilise the community pharmacy network which has been hit by devastating cuts, and expand pharmacy services to bring care close to patients.”
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