Southwark residents’ access to pharmacies could be reduced due to an upcoming vote on limiting working hours.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) is balloting its members to keep strictly to the minimum 40 hours they are required to open by the NHS.
Patients in Southwark are reliant on local pharmacies to access numerous medical services.
Pharmacy user Shya Cham from Peckham said: “My mum has her medication changed a lot and she can’t go eight hours without it.
“Pharmacies are always full anyway, they’re going to be much harder to use if they aren’t open as much.”
The NPA represents community pharmacies, and will circulate this unprecedented ballot in response to increasing workloads and budget cuts for pharmacies that have forced many pharmacies to shut permanently.
In the 2023-24 financial year, more than eight pharmacies a week permanently closed in England, a fivefold increase from the previous year.
The Lloyds Pharmacy on Peckham Hill Street is a recent victim of this trend.
Atul Patel, Director of Mildcare Pharmacies, said current problems were caused by long-term issues.
Patel said: “This is a result of decades of under-funding and an archaic renumeration system.
“The impact to the community is the threat of losing this valuable access to healthcare services at a time convenient to them.
“This is catastrophic and it’s putting lives at risk.”
The recent introduction of the Pharmacy First scheme has increased the number of services provided by pharmacists, adding pressure to the system.
The scheme encourages patients with seven common conditions to visit pharmacists instead of GPs.
The conditions listed are sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections.
The Department for Health and Social Care has claimed Pharmacy First will free up 10million GP appointments a year.
A Peckham pharmacist who asked to remain anonymous was supportive of limiting working hours and thought it was necessary to force reform of the system.
They said: “We need this action – we don’t want to get rich, but we do want a pay rise.”
They also thought this limiting of working hours was only the first step in potential industrial action.
They said: “It is not enough – we need to strike like the doctors.”
Pharmacies limiting their hours is likely to see patients having to turn to their GPs for services they could otherwise get in a pharmacy, increasing pressure on the NHS.
Head of External Communications at the NPA Stephen Fishwick said: “This is the latest ratcheting up of protests since government funding for pharmacies began to erode a decade ago.
“Although pharmacies are naturally reluctant to limit patients’ access to their services, many have been pushed to the brink and believe that they must take strong actions to be heard.”
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