Pharmacy: Rural Areas
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to maintain access to pharmacy services in rural and underserved communities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock
My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is responsible for ensuring that patients can access medicines. In areas where there are fewer pharmacies, the Pharmacy Access Scheme provides financial support to eligible pharmacies to help them stay open.
Every three years, local authorities in England undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated Care Boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services, and where a pharmacy closure impacts access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Where travelling to a pharmacy is not convenient, patients can choose to access pharmaceutical services through any of the over 400 distance selling pharmacies that are required to deliver medicines to patients free of charge. In some rural areas, doctors are permitted to dispense medicines.
The Government recently announced a £340 million uplift to community pharmacy funding, a 10% increase endorsed by Community Pharmacy England, recognising the essential role pharmacies play in supporting patients and the wider National Health Service in communities across the country.
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