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The government arm’s-length body that rules on appeals against integrated care board (ICB) decisions not to allow new pharmacies to open, has already dismissed more appeals in 2024 than in each of the past two years.
Analysis by The Pharmaceutical Journal of NHS Resolution Primary Care Appeals decisions from the last three years found that while the quasi-legal body refused 16 appeals in 2023 and 17 in 2022, it had already refused 23 by the end of September 2024.
Of the 103 appeals against rejected applications to open pharmacies that were made between October 2021 and September 2024, NHS Resolution turned down 62 appeals (60%) and granted 41 appeals (40%).
NHS Resolution deals with NHS concerns and disputes, including appeals against ICB decisions on new pharmacy openings.
The body says that its decisions are based on choice, accessibility and innovative approaches in terms of the delivery of pharmacy services, which take into account the current provision in an area and any expanded provision a new pharmacy would bring. NHS Resolution’s decisions can only be set aside by the High Court.
So far in 2024, four applications have been refused in West Yorkshire, three of which were in Wakefield. The area has seen at least four pharmacy closures since the publication of the council’s ‘2022–2025 Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment’ (PNA), which at the time found no gaps in provision. Wakefield Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board deemed that a revised PNA would be a disproportionate response.
In a statement given to The Pharmaceutical Journal, a spokesperson for Wakefield Council said: “The pharmaceutical needs assessment is normally undertaken on a three-year cycle. Our next pharmaceutical needs assessment is expected to be published in autumn 2025. Supplementary statements have been published where appropriate.”
Analysis by the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA), published earlier in 2024, revealed a net loss of 1,180 pharmacies in England since 2015 — 34.9% of which took place in the 20% most deprived communities.
Additionally, in 2019, Boots announced plans to close 200 “loss-making” UK pharmacies as part of a “transformational cost management programme”, with a further 150 closures announced in November 2021 in quarterly financial filings. A further 300 closures announced in June 2023 brought the number of UK pharmacy closures under the cost-saving plan to 650 closures in total. The store closure programme is understood to have completed this summer.
Residents in the south west of England have been hit particularly hard by pharmacy closures as a result of workforce shortages, with some launching campaigns to keep their local pharmacies open. Some have been successful, such as a Boots pharmacy in Farncombe, Surrey, which stayed open following an online and paper petition with more than 2,200 supporters and intervention from Jeremy Hunt, constituency MP and former chancellor of the exchequer.
Others have not been so successful, such as a Boots pharmacy on the Glastonbury, Somerset, high street, which closed in 2023, despite protests and an online petition with 468 signatures.
NHS Resolution also upheld the decision to refuse a Bristol pharmacist’s application to take over a now-closed Boots pharmacy, backed by locals who lodged a complaint with the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB over the decision process.
A spokesperson for NHS Resolution told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “NHS Resolution’s Primary Care Appeals service is responsible for the prompt and fair resolution of appeals against decisions taken by ICBs regarding applications to establish NHS community pharmacies.
“The data reflects substantive determinations on appeals regarding applications for current need, future need, improvements or better access, unforeseen benefits and distance selling. For 2024, this is to 30 September as these would capture published determinations. It is important to note that this data only relates to the outcome of appeals which are brought to NHS Resolution and does not reflect determinations made by ICBs to grant or refuse applications which were not appealed.
“All applications are carefully considered on their own merits based on the evidence provided at the time and assessed against the relevant test as set out in the NHS Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services Regulations 2013.”
