SEVEN community pharmacies in Oxfordshire will have closed by the end of the year following ‘immense’ financial strain piled on by lack of funding and the Covid-19 crisis.

David Dean, chief executive of Thames Valley Local Pharmaceutical Committee, revealed that five chemist's shops across the county have shut over the past six months, and he predicted that many more would soon have to close due to under mounting cost pressures.

Those already closed include Frosts in Northway, Oxford; the pharmacy in Boswells, Oxford; Boots in Ladygrove, Didcot; Lloyd’s in Kidlington and Peak Pharmacy in Banbury.

Rowlands in Banbury Road, Oxford, will close on November 11. Lloyd’s in Didcot Health Centre is also expected to stop trading, according to an anonymous source.

They are among 155 community pharmacies that closed down in England in the first eight months of 2020. The closures amount to a loss of six per cent of such businesses in Oxfordshire.

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Explaining what has lead to the recent closures Mr Dean commented: "Despite being in the frontline in the fight against Covid-19, extreme financial pressures placed on community pharmacies are starting to take their toll.

"Government funding to pharmacies has remained static since 2015 – this is despite increased costs in rent and rates, staffing, PPE and the cost of medicines.

"When the number of prescriptions went up three or four-fold at the beginning of the pandemic, many pharmacies had to extend credit terms or borrow money just to remain open.

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"Add to this the decline in footfall and retail sales, and it is not surprising that several pharmacies in Oxfordshire have been forced to close – large multiple and small family-run businesses alike."

Earlier this year Frosts Pharmacy Group shut its Northway branch in Oxford.

The branch was 'merged' with its Marston premises that is located just 500m away.

Stuart Gale, owner and chief pharmacist of the group, which also includes oxfordonlinepharmacy.co.uk, said at the time: "We are absolutely devastated to have to announce the closure of our Northway Pharmacy.

"For years now, we have warned of the unrealistic pressures being placed on community pharmacy, from relentless government cuts to the impact of Brexit on the price and availability of certain medication.

"We adapted to survive, bringing the local doctor’s surgery into our Marston branch.

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"In our other branches we opened travel clinics - which were proving incredibly successful.

"Then Covid-19 struck and the travel clinics were mothballed."

Even further, a recent survey from the National Pharmacy Association showed that between 28 and 38 per cent of the pharmacy network is in financial deficit, with more than half of owners planning to sell their businesses.

It was also projected that by 2024 this will rise to 64 to 85 per cent under current funding arrangements.