The National Pharmacy Association chief executive Paul Rees has accused the prime minister Rishi Sunak of “glossing over the financial crisis engulfing” community pharmacies.

Rees was responding to Sunak’s suggestion in parliament yesterday that he “cares deeply” about the sector while refusing to commit to supporting pharmacies with improved funding.

The NPA this week warned the latest NHS figures showed 177 pharmacies closed between January and April 2024 compared with 116 during the same period last year, while the 403 pharmacies that closed last year was almost five times higher than those that closed in 2022.

Sunak praised pharmacy teams in England for “working incredibly hard” to serve local communities and help cut waiting lists but Rees said that although he “was right to express confidence in the amazing work of pharmacies,” he was missing a glaring point.

“He completely glosses over the financial crisis engulfing pharmacies which are closing at the rate of 10 a week. We need to support these amazing local services so we can stop the closures and allow them to continue supporting communities everywhere,” Rees said.

In an attempt to exert pressure on the government, Rees, alongside NPA board members Olivier Picard and Salim Jetha, today took a large invoice to the Department of Health and Social Care for £108 million – the amount the NPA claims pharmacies in England subsidised the dispensing of NHS medicines “from their own pockets” last month.

“The £108m figure is an average monthly figure based on the loss to pharmacy incomes over the past decade,” the NPA said. The invoice said it would "make good funding losses which have closed 1,400 community pharmacies."