Month: December 2024

A delegation has travelled to London to seek UK Government NIO Minister Fleur Anderson MP’s support for vital community pharmacy services that are in financial crisis and at risk of collapse in Northern Ireland.

Representatives from Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI), including local pharmacy owners were led by Ulster Unionist peer Lord Rogan as they met the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to seek stabilisation of the community pharmacy network.

The Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI), Gerard Greene said:
“Community pharmacies are under mounting financial pressures. Due to long-term underfunding and increasing costs, the community pharmacy financial model is stretched to breaking point. Pharmacy owners in Northern Ireland are battling to keep the doors open so they can continue delivering vital, local healthcare services. With many pharmacy owners personally propping up the national health service it is utterly unsustainable and unjust.

“We’ve made the trip to London to take community pharmacies’ desperate plea to the government’s Northern Ireland Minister who listened to the concerns raised. During the meeting, we also raised the budget implications relating to the UK-wide National Insurance Contribution increase, which will add further financial pressure to already stretched pharmacies.“

Community pharmacists are increasingly playing a greater role in health transformation with the delivery of an expanded range of clinical services. At a time when this clinical expertise and accessibility is widely recognised as a key asset in alleviating pressures on other primary care services, we should be looking at ways to further harness this potential rather than place the network into further financial peril.

Community Pharmacists, General Practitioners, Dentists and Optometrists must be protected from the UK Government National Insurance Contribution increases to continue delivering primary care services in the communities they serve, the four bodies representing Family Practitioner Services in Northern Ireland have said.

In a joint letter to the Health Minister, NHS medical, pharmacy, dental and optometry providers have called on the Northern Ireland Executive to make the case to the UK Government for the protection of these vital services from increases in National Insurance Contributions, which risk the collapse of primary care in Northern Ireland.
Many of these providers, commissioned to deliver NHS primary care services in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department of Health, operate as small businesses and are subject to this UK Government policy change.

In a joint statement from the four bodies, Community Pharmacy NI, the British Medical Association (NI), British Dental Association and Optometry NI said:
“Medical, pharmacy, dental and optometry providers are the front door to the health service for families across Northern Ireland and vital for the transformation of care.

“Yet these services are under extreme financial pressure, resulting in the closure of general practices and community pharmacies, the most rapid shrinkage of NHS Dentistry anywhere in the UK and reduced access to NHS optometry.

“Without adequate protection from UK Government policy changes, the precarious position of Family Practitioner Services in Northern Ireland will deteriorate further.
“It is now an urgent imperative for the Northern Ireland Executive to make the case to the UK Government for the protection of primary care or risk the collapse of these vital services in communities across Northern Ireland.”