Thousands of community chemists have been stripped from high streets and slotted into GP surgeries instead, pharmacy chiefs claimed tonight.
The Company Chemists Association said pharmacists quitting to work in doctors’ practices had fuelled an estimated 3,000 shortfall of community pharmacists in England.
It revealed that since March 2019 around 6,500 full-time pharmacists - about 8,000 in total - have been recruited into general practice and primary care networks.
The CCA alleged the shift was to help deliver the Government’s “flagship healthcare policy to recruit more primary care professionals”.
But the organisation accused the Tories of a “whack-a-mole approach to addressing the primary care crisis” which it warned had “put the community pharmacy workforce on the brink”.
The CCA told the Mirror tonight: “The community pharmacy workforce is facing an ever-worsening crisis.
“Funding cuts coupled with growing patient demand have created a downward spiral.
“The continued recruitment of pharmacists from community pharmacies into GP surgeries is fanning the flames of an already precarious situation.”
The CCA said that four years ago the NHS realised it would be unable to recruit or train enough family doctors “to meet the public’s needs”.
It accused health bosses of “hastily deciding to recruit pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to fill the gaps” without boosting numbers of pharmacists - “creating huge shortages”.
The body urged the Government to pay chemists to provide “packages of care on behalf of GPs, rather than taking pharmacists away from accessible high street settings”.
It also called for more cash for the sector, as well as a “fully-funded pharmacy first” strategy so patients with minor conditions can be seen, diagnosed and treated at their local pharmacy - easing pressure on the NHS.
We revealed analysis in January suggesting pharmacies were suffering an average £67,500 black hole every year because government funding failed to keep pace with economic growth.
CCA chief executive Malcolm Harrison said: “The Government must act without delay on the ever-deepening community pharmacy workforce crisis.
“Although GP recruitment of pharmacists is not the only factor contributing to the workforce crisis, it is undoubtedly fanning the flames.
“This downward spiral is creating untenable pressure on pharmacists and their teams.
“Robbing Peter to pay Paul is short-sighted and such ‘whack-a-mole’ policies are doing more harm than good to patients.
“The Government must devise an evidence-led workforce plan for all professions across primary care, ensuring patients can access the care that they need when and where they need it.”
The Mirror is campaigning to save family-run chemists.
The Department of Health was contacted for comment.
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