Rural pharmacies at risk

We read in some of today's papers that Government funding for rural pharmacies is set to fall by over £200m inthe next financial year   This is putting the future of many local businesses under threat, and a challenge against the cuts has today been mounted in the High Court.

The inconvenience these changes will cause to many people, mostly in rural areas, has been highlighted by a House of Lords library study that shows that 1.3m people in the UK could have to travel further to visit a pharmacy, with obvious knock on effects on demand for GP services.  The development is particularly costly for people in view of the fact that,in order to prevent overprescribing,  doctors are now only allowed to prescribe very low quantities of drugs at a time.  This means that visits to collect regular prescriptions must be made more often in what strikes me as yet another example of mindless 'cost shifting', this time by the NHS onto the hapless patient.

Coincidentally it seems Public Health Suffolk is currently consulting on the provision of pharmacy services in the County and residents have until the end of March to answer a questionnaire about the issue.

The survey can be accessed on www.healthysuffolk.org.uk and the closing date is Friday 31 March 2017. Hard copies of the questionnaire can be requested by emailing healthandwellbeing@suffolk.gov.uk or by telephoning 01473 260079.

Any information provided will be treated as confidential.