PHARMACIES in East Lancashire are facing 'damaging' Government cuts which could force some to close, it has been warned.

The industry's negotiating body, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), has said it has been told it faces cuts of 12 per cent in the current financial year, with more to follow in the year after.

Hyndburn and Haslingden MP Graham Jones has criticised the Government and vowed to oppose plans to cut the budget for chemists after talks with the sector broke down.

PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe said if pharmacies were forced to close it would simply add to the pressures on the rest of health service as more people would turn to their GPs.

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In Lancashire there are currently 387 community pharmacies with 2,746,000 prescription items dispensed per month.

Mr Jones has said that negotiations on a new package of funding for community pharmacies have ceased and the Government is set to push through a funding cut that could force thousands of chemists to close across the country.

The Government’s initial plan to cut £170 million from the community pharmacy budget – a cut of six per cent – was put on hold after pressure from campaigners, but a new round damaging cuts could now be imposed by the Government, the MP has said.

Mr Jones said: “The Government should drop their damaging plan to cut community pharmacies and get back around the negotiating table with the sector.

“Cutting community pharmacies would be bad for our local community as many people, including young families and elderly people rely on them for free medical advice and prescription medicine.

“Excellent Lancashire pharmacies, such as in Baxenden, will be hit. Baxenden’s ‘Health Living Pharmacy’ framework ensures that its provision is localised and preventative, which in turn means that the majority of its users do not have to go elsewhere for health advice.

“The Government’s plan is also a false economy for the NHS because community pharmacies save the NHS money. Cutting them will only add more costs in the long run.

“The only beneficiaries are new remote warehouse pharmacies – driven by profit, detached from the communities they claim to serve, and unconcerned by the need to protect patients’ personal data.

“The Government should think again urgently before it is too late.”

Mrs Sharpe said: "It is madness and it is so damaging to the people who use pharmacies every day, it is so damaging to the NHS and it so damaging to social care because a lot of this burden will fall on the NHS in other places and on social care.

"The proposals were and remain founded on ignorance of the value of pharmacies to local communities, to the NHS and to social care, and will do great damage to all three. We cannot accept them."

The Department of Health said no final decisions had been taken regarding funding levels for pharmacies.