How new online chemists could put local pharmacist out of business
Business
Ever-growing number of online pharmacies
(Web Desk) - A rise in overheads and a shortfall in the amount they are paid for dispensing medication means record numbers of pharmacies are closing their doors.
But, a Good Health investigation has identified another threat: the ever-growing number of online pharmacies.
These should provide services nationally, but some are now delivering only to specific areas, putting local bricks-and-mortar pharmacies out of business.
While the number of community pharmacies dropped by 673 between 2015 and 2023, the number of distance-selling pharmacies, which are online pharmacies contracted to the NHS to issue prescriptions, increased by 247 during the same period.
Distance-selling pharmacies, or DSPs, which do not offer the option of meeting patients and benefit from lower overheads, should not target areas where physical chemists are already in operation.
This is to try to safeguard bricks-and-mortar pharmacies — which are increasingly being relied upon to offer more services, taking the pressure off hospitals as well as family doctors.
Last week, for example, the role of pharmacists was expanded further under the NHS-backed Pharmacy First scheme.
Pharmacists can now treat ailments such as earaches, skin infections, basic urinary tract infections and shingles — and are permitted to issue antibiotics.
But worryingly, a Good Health investigation has shown that, from 2015 to 2023, 155 local chemists closed where 11 online pharmacies were now serving the area.
DSPs advertise online but are also found on the NHS app, which encourages patients to register with them as their provider of choice — as they increasingly do.
NHS data showed that, in 2021, 53 million prescriptions items were issued by DSPs in England, up from 29 million in 2019.
While DSPs are meant to dispense medication to anyone, anywhere in the country as part of their NHS contract, our investigation showed that many were refusing to serve patients outside their local area.
When a reporter approached a sample of 11 DSPs, eight of them said they only delivered locally.
And while bricks-and-mortar pharmacies can only open in areas where there is a need, DSPs do not need to meet this requirement.
