Pharmacy closures and reduced opening times in England resulted in more than six million lost hours over a 22-month period, according to an analysis by the Company Chemists’ Association.

Its study, which lifted the lid on the alarming impact the funding crisis is having on pharmacies across the country, said almost 64,000 community pharmacy weekly opening hours were also lost between September 2022 and June 2024.

Nearly two-thirds of lost opening hours was down to closures and 38 per cent was due to reduced opening hours. The analysis also found that 26.9 per cent of pharmacies trading in June this year had reduced their opening hours during the previous 18 months.

Pharmacies in the 20 per cent most deprived parts of England reduced their hours 3.6 times more than pharmacies in the 20 per cent least deprived areas.

In the Midlands and parts of the north of England, nine in 10 integrated care boards had the largest reduction in opening hours per 100,000 population.

“More deprived communities have had to suffer from almost 500,000 fewer hours of pharmacy care per year, due to reduced opening hours alone,” the CCA said.

Devon was the worst affected ICB with a 14.6 per cent reduction in opening hours between 2022-23 and 2023-24, followed by Humber and North Yorkshire (14.1 per cent reduction), Somerset (13.7 per cent reduction),  Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (13.7 per cent reduction) and the Surrey Heartlands (13.4 per cent reduction).

“Underfunding of pharmacies in England has led to the loss of 1,200-plus pharmacies since 2015. Many other pharmacies have had to significantly reduce their opening hours, just to keep their heads above water,” said CCA chief executive Malcolm Harrison.

“Taken together, patients have lost access to almost 3.4 million hours of pharmacy care a year. Without action, more pharmacies will either close or be forced to further reduce their opening hours.

“Community pharmacies want to deliver more care for patients but are held back by a broken NHS funding contract. After a decade with any funding increase, pharmacies desperately need additional money just to survive, and further long-term investment if they are do more.”