“Impenetrable bureaucratic processes” are blocking new pharmacies from opening in areas affected by closures, Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson has told the House of Commons as she blasted “perverse decisions” by local NHS boards. 

In a Westminster debate on Friday July 26, Ms Wilson said the area of Hampton in her Twickenham constituency suffered the loss of two Boots branches last autumn, the effects of which were exacerbated by NHS England’s failure to communicate the planned closures to the Richmond health and wellbeing board. 

She said: “The first that local councillors, the local health community in the area and I as the MP knew about the planned closures was when Boots placed signs in its windows to inform customers and concerned constituents started to contact me.”

This alleged communication failure also led to a pharmaceutical needs assessment being published that inaccurately reported that there were no gaps in the market – which meant that a subsequent application to open a new independent pharmacy on the site of the old Tangley Park Boots site was rejected. 

“I hope you will agree that this decision is utterly perverse,” Ms Wilson told parliamentarians. She criticised the current system whereby the views of ordinary members of the community on the need for pharmacy provision “can be ignored” and the views of individuals designated as ‘interested parties’ prioritised.

“Revisiting the regulations and how NHS England is implementing them will cost next to nothing,” she said as she urged the Labour government to simplift the applications process and give local integrated care boards (ICBs) more autonomy. 

“To describe the bureaucratic process that sits around new applications as byzantine would be generous,” she said, claiming that North East London ICB has been handed control of all London pharmacy market entries even though its officials “have no local knowledge of our area, no understanding of local transport links and no relationships with the local health system”. 

A representative for NEL ICB has since told P3pharmacy that the ICB “only hosts” the NHS London team that is responsible for market entry decisions. 

Ms Wilson also issued a strong warning over the “huge funding challenges” that  she described as a “big driver of these closures”.

Responding on behalf of pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock, public health minister Andrew Gwynne told Ms Wilson acknowledged that “experiences vary depending on where people live” but said “generally access to pharmacies is good”. 

Mr Gwynne said his department is looking at kickstarting funding talks “as a matter of urgency” but warned that financially the country is facing “the most challenging circumstances since the second world war”.

In an update today, Community Pharmacy England said that talks for the 2024-25 contractual framework are not expected to start before September.