Around nine in 10 council areas have seen at least one pharmacy permanently shut in the last three years, with deprived council areas being the worst hit, according to new analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).
The analysis of NHS pharmacy closure data found that the top 50 areas for closures in the country had higher than average levels of deprivation.
And approximately 1,400 pharmacies have closed since 2016 when funding to pharmacies was first cut by the government, according to the NPA.
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Liverpool was the country’s ‘capital for pharmacy closures’ with 3.1 less pharmacies per 100,000 people in 2025/26 compared to 2022/23. York was second and Blackpool, Wakefield, Coventry and Kingston Upon Hull were all in the top 10 for closures since October 2022.
West Berkshire retained its position as the country’s top ‘pharmacy desert’, with the lowest number of pharmacies per head of population, followed by Wokingham.
And Westminster, the area with the highest provision, has more than four times the number of pharmacies per head of population than West Berkshire, the area with the lowest.
Chief executive of the NPA, Henry Gregg, said these statistics were ‘truly alarming’.
‘Some of our most deprived communities with the greatest health needs have been hardest hit by a tidal wave of pharmacy closures in the last few years. This risks widening health inequalities as well as access to vital medication and care for patients,’ he said.
The NPA has called on the government to provide an urgent funding uplift or risk the 10-year plan ‘railing before it has even begun’.
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Mr Gregg added that community pharmacists cannot be expected to deliver new clinical services and remove pressure from the rest of the NHS for free.
Chair of the Local Government Association’s Health and Wellbeing Committee, Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor, stressed the vital role pharmacies have in areas with high levels of deprivation, where they are often the most accessible point of contact with the NHS.
‘Their role in providing essential medicines, advice, and increasingly clinical services is vital to prevention and relieving pressure in other parts of health and care services,’ she said.
A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson responded: ‘Community pharmacists are at the heart of local healthcare and through our 10 Year Health Plan, we will ensure they play an even greater role as we bring more care out of hospitals and closer to where people live.
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‘This year we’ve increased funding to community pharmacies by 19% to almost £3.1bn – the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS – so our dedicated pharmacists can provide easy access to high-quality care to all.’
Despite recent uplifts, pharmacies still face a funding gap of £2.6bn, according to the NPA.
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