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A Surrey contractor has told P3pharmacy he has been “left with no option” but to cut opening hours and services from April 1 as part of the latest phase of collective action led by the National Pharmacy Association.  

Akash Patel, superintendent pharmacist at Trio Pharmacy in Shepperton, said he is anticipating a £12,000 annual hit to his finances once the new arrangements for minimum wage and national insurance come into effect on Tuesday April 1. 

“We’re already squeezing the margin very tight,” said Mr Patel, adding: “Adding this extra layer is just not sustainable.” 

Mr Patel, who has already been forced to reduce his Saturday opening hours, told P3pharmacy that unless a major funding uplift is announced in the next two weeks he will have no choice but to scale back to his core Monday to Friday contractual hours, as the NPA advised its 6,000 members this morning (March 18).

And services like contraception provision and Pharmacy First will also have to be dialled down in the absence of a funding boost, he added. 

“We cannot trade at a loss – it’s as simple as that,” he warned. “It’s not that we are doing this intentionally.

“They’ve not given us any indication as to where our contract lies, we haven’t been told anything.”

Drug costs account for the biggest strain on Trio Pharmacy’s finances, Mr Patel explained, with other factors like rising energy costs and inflation also having a detrimental impact.  

“Ninety per cent of our work is NHS, and the majority of our medicines are dispensed at a loss. We were one of the very few service sectors on the front line during the pandemic and I find it quite catastrophic how we are not remunerated properly,” he commented.

Mr Patel said he was concerned about the potential impact on his local patients if he is forced to reduce opening hours further, commenting that Shepperton has an elderly population and has already seen the closure of two Boots branches. 

“Reducing hours may be inconvenient, but we have to prevent permanent closure and ensure continuous access to services, and we also have to ensure that we're keeping patients safe; we can't keep having this amount of pressure,” he explained.