One in three pharmacies in London is facing an axe or closing down because of NHS funding cuts.
A decision is expected "within days" on a major shake-up of the sector, as ministers look to save £22 billion across the cash-strapped NHS. This could place 750 of the 2,500 pharmacies in the capital at risk, with boroughs such as Hackney among those likely to be worst affected, according to the National Pharmacy Association.
It warned of a "double whammy" in some deprived boroughs, where GP shortages are already causing problems for residents trying to access primary care. Half of family surgeries in London have staff shortages and a third have at least one GP vacancy.
Health chiefs want more patients to seek medical help from pharmacists — especially for flu vaccines, diabetes treatments and help to stop smoking — to reduce the pressure on GPs and A&E departments.
However, plans for a six per cent cut in the £2.8 billion pharmacy bill — a reduction of £170 million a year — were unveiled last December.
In March, Sadiq Khan, while Labour MP for Tooting, wrote to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging him not to push through "policies that can have unintended and irreversible consequences for local pharmacies and the patients they serve".
Fears were allayed last month when new pharmacy minister David Mowat announced a pause to the programme of planned cuts. However, the changes are now scheduled to be announced shortly and expected be implemented from December 1.
Stephen Fishwick, spokesman for the National Pharmacy Association, said: "The minister stood up and said he was going to think long and hard about it. Then it emerged very shortly after that officials were still looking at a fast-track decision. We are bracing ourselves for not necessarily good news.
"Nationally, the Government has said we could lose up to a quarter of our pharmacies — 2,000 across England. In London, a lot of pharmacies are at risk in under-doctored areas. We are going to get the situation where people in some of the most deprived areas in the country are going to have neither a doctor nor a local pharmacy."
Pharmacies currently receive an "establishment" payment and top-up fees based on the number of prescriptions issued, totalling about £220,000 a year. The planned reduction in funding will average out at a cut of £14,500 for every pharmacy in the country.
The Government wants to axe numbers in areas where there are "clusters" of pharmacies within 10 minutes’ walk of each other and campaigners fear that independent pharmacies will be the worst hit.
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