Due to the potential closure of six pharmacies in a single county, a pharmacist claims his profession is "in danger.".
Independent Town Pharmacy owner Mansour Dadkha in Great Yarmouth claimed that while business was "busier," profit margins were shrinking.
In Norfolk, five of the six closing pharmacies are Lloyds Pharmacies.
The government is "supporting" pharmacies, according to a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson.
The decision to close the branches was made "in response to changing market conditions," according to a spokesman for Lloyds Pharmacy.
According to a BBC analysis, there are 160 fewer pharmacies in England than there were two years ago.
To relieve pressure on GPs, the NHS in England announced a new plan in May that included encouraging people to use high street pharmacies in specific situations.
According to Mr. Dadkha, the more prescriptions he handles, the "less I'm getting paid from the NHS.".
"Almost everything has gone up except our funding," he continued. "Getting suitable, qualified staff has become difficult, and the wages of the local pharmacist have nearly doubled over the last two years.
If they don't spend their time on other services, he claimed, pharmacies that deal with lower volumes of prescriptions will be "in danger.".
The pharmacist expressed "hopefulness" for the future and promised that his company would "continue to try to be the heart and soul of patient contact.".
The closure of five Lloyds Pharmacies, located inside Sainsbury's supermarkets, was deemed "concerning" by Alex Stewart, chief executive of the patient advocacy organization Healthwatch Norfolk.
The pharmacies, according to him, have "made such a huge contribution to availability across Norfolk and Waveney.".
They play a crucial role because, when you visit a pharmacist, they do more than just dispensing medication. Additionally, they serve as a resource for the neighborhood. ".
Pharmacy funding has been "flat for over five years and funding was cut a couple years before that," according to Lauren Seamons of Norfolk's Local Pharmaceutical Committee.
Due to rising operating expenses, she continued, it is "really difficult" for them to "make ends meet.".
Their pharmacies are their entire lives; they consider them to be more than just a job or a business. ".
She claimed that late-opening drugstores, such as the five Lloyds Pharmacies that are closing, helped to "reduce the pressure on A&E and out-of-hour services.".
According to Ms. Seamons, pharmacies can "solve" the problem of GP overwork if given the "right support.".
The DHSC reported that an extra £100 million was invested in the industry in September.
"We are supporting pharmacies to provide a range of clinical services and we are expanding the services pharmacists - who are degree-qualified medical health professionals - can provide to their community, including managing oral contraception," the spokesperson said.
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