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People who need to obtain medication at the weekend are having to undertake long trips because more pharmacies are cutting their opening hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
One in six pharmacies in England have reduced their hours at weekends since 2022, with some shutting altogether, as a result of “unsustainable” pressures on their budgets.
The cuts mean that overall more than 20% of weekend opening hours have been lost, which has left pharmacy services increasingly unavailable, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).
That has forced some patients to go to an A&E or urgent treatment centre to get the morning-after pill, or an emergency prescription or advice on how to treat a minor ailment.
Rural areas such as Devon, Cornwall and the Lake District were particularly affected, although in cities such as Manchester and Leeds there had also been less weekend opening, the NPA said.
It cited how St Ives in Cornwall used to have three pharmacies, one of which opened at the weekend. But two of them shut and the sole surviving pharmacy does not operate on Saturday or Sunday. People in the town needing help now have to go to Hayle or Penzance.
Similarly, people in Windermere in Cumbria w have to undertake a 10-mile (16km) drive to the nearest pharmacy that is open on a Sunday, which takes 25 minutes by car or 45 minutes by public transport.
Patient groups said the trend had left disabled people, shift workers and those without a car or good public transport links struggling to access drugs they need at the weekend.
The NPA chief executive, Olivier Picard, said: “This is yet more evidence that the pharmacy network in England is creaking at the seams after facing deep cuts over a number of years. Sadly the real losers are the millions of patients these pharmacies serve, particularly those in rural areas, who are forced to travel long distances or even go to hospital if they need a prescription or advice for a minor health issue on a Sunday or late at night.”
Rebecca Curtayne, the head of public affairs at Healthwatch England, the NHS patient watchdog, said: “People rely on their local pharmacy for timely advice and essential medication, so cuts to weekend opening hours are very worrying. We are already hearing from people about longer journeys to find an open pharmacy, particularly in rural areas, and this creates real difficulties for those with limited mobility or no access to transport.
“It is no surprise that some people end up turning to other parts of the NHS when they cannot get the help they need in their community.”
About 1,550 pharmacies in England had shut altogether since 2017, also as a direct result of government underfunding of pharmacy services, the NPA said. The money they received from the NHS – for dispensing prescriptions, providing vaccinations and other services – had fallen by 40% in real terms since 2016, leaving many unable to provide the opening hours they used to, it added.
Patients’ difficulty accessing pharmacy care at the weekend risked undermining the government’s goal of ramping up community-based care, the Patients Association said. Rachel Power, its chief executive, said: “When pharmacies close their doors or cut opening hours, patients pay the price. In some instances, local pharmacy is the only port of call for patients in need.
“For shift workers, for people in deprived areas, for anyone without a car or good public transport, the local pharmacy is a lifeline that can prevent unnecessary trips to see a GP or to the hospital. When the door to local pharmacy closes, the door to healthcare often closes with it. That is unacceptable. The government’s ambition to move care closer to home needs local pharmacy to make it work.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Community pharmacies are a vital front door to the NHS, which is why this government has provided them with the largest funding uplift of any part of the NHS over the last two years – reaching a total of £3.1bn.
“We are currently consulting with Community Pharmacy England on funding arrangements for next year and we will continue to make sure hard-working pharmacists can offer patients more care closer to home as part of our 10-year health plan.”
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