Letter: NHS pharmacies in New Forest are facing financial pressure from government too

SIR – I’m writing to respond to the recent announcement of the provision of extra funding to pharmacies via extra services to take pressure off GPs.

As somebody with over 10 years’ experience in pharmacy, I just find it completely tone-deaf that the government doesn’t see the same pressures happening pretty much across healthcare, also happening in pharmacies.

When I started back in 2011, providing advice, services and prescriptions was far more manageable. This was most likely as we were still living on the funding that the previous Labour government provided.

Since 2015, it has got a lot harder, and this is reflected by the amount of high street pharmacies closing or being bought up by big chains.

Rishi Sunak declared last week that he would provide a much-needed funding boost – but there’s a catch. We’ve got to provide additional services on top of everything else we already do.

We need urgent funding in dispensing prescriptions, the part that everybody expects of a pharmacy. So, this won’t mean extra staffing as only pharmacists will be able to conduct the services, which will realistically mean longer wait times for prescriptions while the pharmacist is providing this new service (on top of all the expected day jobs), after the long wait at the GP or A&E.

I know queueing is meant to be a British tradition, but there’s a limit to what people will tolerate.

We must demand more from the government to ensure the future of the front door of UK healthcare is safe, and that will not end up in a dystopia of online pharmacies being the only way to get our medication.

Scott Saffin

Totton