According to research, pharmacies across England are unable to deliver critical NHS and public health services due to the overwhelming financial and operational pressures they face.

A survey of pharmacy owners representing more than 2,100 pharmacies found that more than 96% of respondents said they had stopped providing local commission services in the past 12 months.

These include emergency contraception and products to help you quit smoking.

Four in five (81%) of the pharmacy owners surveyed said they had to stop offering extended opening hours, while 90% had to stop employing local pharmacists due to high costs.

Of the 92 owners surveyed by the representative body Community Pharmacy England, more than a fifth said they had to end the free delivery of prescription drugs to patients.

The research comes as figures show that almost 1,000 pharmacies in England have closed since 2017, with poorer areas being disproportionately affected by the closures.

The Pharmacy First scheme was fully launched on January 1 this year, with patients in England now offered treatment for seven common conditions, including urinary tract infections and herpes zoster from a chemist without having to see a GP.

Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England, said: “Across England patients and local communities are paying the price for our collapsing community pharmacy network as thousands of pharmacies have been left with no choice but to to reduce the services they can offer. These are not decisions that every pharmacy wants to make, but with a 30% reduction in funding in real terms and spiraling costs, pharmacy owners have to make impossible decisions to try to keep the their doors open.

Nick Kaye, the president of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “The nation’s community pharmacies are under enormous pressure and are grossly underfunded for their vital work at the frontline of the health service.

“This has inevitably resulted in cuts such as reduced opening hours and the end of free medicine deliveries to patients at home. Worse still, more than 1,000 pharmacies have been forced to close in the last decade.

“The government should be investing in us to reduce GP waiting times but now we are going backwards instead of realizing our potential as skilled clinicians.

He added: “If GPs limit the number of appointments each day, more patients will come to community pharmacies for help, but we are not in great shape after years of cuts. Our ability to be an effective shock absorber for disruption elsewhere in the health system has been eroded and we have serious capacity challenges.

“We need a new deal for community pharmacies that properly funds our work and allows us to deliver great NHS services.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The NHS is broken, and pharmacies have been undervalued for far too long.

“This government will shift the focus of the NHS out of hospitals and into the community. We will expand the role of pharmacies making better use of the skills of pharmacists, including accelerating the implementation of independent prescribing and creating of a community pharmacist prescribing service.