The analysis of NHS Business Services Authority data by the National Pharmacy Association found that 222 pharmacies closed their doors in 2024 - the second highest annual closure rate on record.

Nearly 700 pharmacies have closed since 2022, leaving England with its lowest number of pharmacies in nearly 20 years and forcing patients to travel record distances to access vital medicines.

The NPA, who represent independent pharmacies, have said that pharmacies have been ‘pushed to breaking point' by 40% real terms cuts to their funding and the ones still open are left ‘hanging on by their fingertips'.

Closures also put significant pressures onto neighbouring pharmacies and risk a ‘domino effect', massively increasing workload and staffing costs without proper renumeration.

An updated NPA analysis of pharmacy closures in the past two years also shows that:

• West Berkshire has overtaken Plymouth as having seen the highest rate of pharmacy closure out of any council area in the country per head of their population, with Plymouth and Liverpool having seen the second and third highest, respectively. West Berkshire is also the country's ‘pharmacy desert', with the fewest pharmacies per patient.
• Cornwall, one of the most rural council areas with the most isolated patients, has seen a surge in pharmacy closures, with nine having shut in the past two years.
• Oxfordshire and Berkshire have some of the lowest numbers of pharmacies per head of population. West Berkshire, Wokingham, Bracknell Forest and Oxfordshire make up four of the top six areas for pharmacy deserts.
• Nearly 90% of council areas have seen at least one pharmacy shut permanently in just the past two years.

The NPA is calling for the government to urgently start consultations on this year's pharmacy funding settlement. The association warned that a deal which starts to reverse cuts was needed to avoid further  pharmacy closures and the potential of the first ‘work to rule' style action in history.

The current funding settlement for community pharmacies in England expired on 31 March 2024 and pharmacies have been working without a new settlement more than nine months into the financial year.

The pharmacy contract funds 90% of an average pharmacy's activity, including covering the cost of medication as well as other NHS services, such as vaccination campaigns.

Nick Kaye, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said: ‘It is patients that have lost out the most, with more people in isolated areas having to travel further for vital medication as well as access to medical advice convenient to them.

‘Patience with the failure to commence consultations on the current year's settlement has worn paper-thin and pharmacies simply cannot wait any longer for a settlement that should have been agreed and paid nearly more than a year ago.

‘We've given the Government ample time to respond to the very clear expression of professional concern expressed in our ballot – now's the time to come up with a sensible settlement and a clear roadmap to the reform we all want to see.'

In response, Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association's Community Wellbeing Board, said: ‘As government has acknowledged, pharmacies play a crucial role in transforming healthcare delivery by identifying health issues, managing conditions, and promoting healthy lifestyles within communities.

‘With healthcare services increasingly moving away from traditional settings like GP surgeries and hospitals to align with where people live, work, and shop, the closure of community pharmacies could have serious, unintended consequences on residents' health and wellbeing.'