The number of community pharmacies in Northern Ireland has reached a 10-year low, government statistics for 2023-24 reveal.  

The NI Department of Health’s annual statistics report on pharmaceutical services points to a net closure of 14 pharmacies year-on-year, with 511 pharmacies by the end of March, 14 fewer than in 2022-23 and a 4.3 point percentage drop.

“This is the lowest number of pharmacies here in the last 10 years, a period in which numbers began reducing from the 532 open in that year,” said the Department of Health. 

The local government district of Belfast had the largest numerical drop, falling from 132 pharmacies to 125, while the largest percentage drop was observed in Lisburn & Castlereagh, which lost 10.3 per cent of its pharmacies after a net closure of three. 

The Fermanagh & Omagh district was the only area that saw a rise in pharmacy numbers – from 45 to 46.  

There were 26.8 pharmacies per 100,000 people in 2023-24, a 2.9 per cent drop compared to the previous year. This figure remains considerably higher than the UK average of 20.6 pharmacies for every 100,000 people, which the report says “may be linked to the low number of dispensing GP practices here” – there are just four dispensing surgeries across the whole of Northern Ireland. 

Meanwhile, the average number of items dispensed annually per contractor rose by three per cent to more than 87,000 items, with the number of items dispensed in the most deprived areas 46 per cent higher than in the most affluent.  

The report found that 26 per cent of women and 15 per cent of men are taking antidepressants, with 24.2 per cent of people in Derry City & Strabane receiving antidepressants. 

Contractors in Northern Ireland have repeatedly raised concerns about the impact of funding constraints and medicine supply issues on their ability to serve their communities.  

In March, Stormont’s health committee heard that contractors are forced to fund their businesses out of their own savings, with Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland chief executive Gerard Greene telling politicians: “The risks are such that the ability of community pharmacies to maintain its very basic function of the supply of medicines to the public can no longer be assumed.”