A pharmacist has racked up \u00a3145,000 in debt trying to keep his business afloat and fears he will not be able to afford to pay his staff each month.<\/p>\n
Tunde Olawoye is not alone in struggling, with pharmacists around Wales saying their costs have \u00ab\u00a0gone through the roof\u00a0\u00bb, and they are now selling items such as aspirin at a loss.<\/p>\n
Around 60% of pharmacy owners in Wales have remortgaged their house or used personal savings to keep the doors open in the last year, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).<\/p>\n
The Welsh government said it had made \u00ab\u00a0significant investment in the sector in recent years\u00a0\u00bb, including increased funding for core services to enable reforms.<\/p>\n
Newport-based pharmacist Geoff Thomas has worked in the industry for 40 years and warned things are \u00ab\u00a0heading off a cliff\u00a0\u00bb, unless there is serious change.<\/p>\n
Another described how she pays \u00a33.75 for aspirin and sells it for \u00a33.05.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s not sustainable at all,\u00a0\u00bb said Olawoye, 54.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0They need to invest more in the profession because we are the frontline of health in this country.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Initially, his businesses was doing fine, but with various costs escalating, there came a point when his remuneration through a Welsh government agreement was not meeting his overheads.<\/p>\n
When his debt spiralled to \u00a3145,000, he had to set up a repayment arrangement to satisfy his creditors.<\/p>\n
He contemplated selling the business in New Quay, Ceredigion, but realised money from the sale would not be enough to cover bank loans.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0These are the challenges that you deal with day in, day out,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Now I have decided I’m not going to sell my business at a loss, I’m going to try everything to make it profitable again.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
In Wales, community pharmacies are funded primarily through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).<\/p>\n
An amount is agreed with the Welsh government and covers things such as dispensing, professional fees, clinical services and operational costs incurred at the pharmacy.<\/p>\n
There was a 4% uplift announced in November 2025 that brought the total CPCF fees and allowances to \u00a3182m per year.<\/p>\n
But owners are saying this is not enough and it has not risen in real terms in a decade.<\/p>\n
Pharmacists are struggling in other parts of the UK too, with analysis last year showing England’s network was at its smallest for 20 years due to closures.<\/p>\n
Services in Northern Ireland were also described as \u00ab\u00a0at breaking point\u00a0\u00bb last year because of funding difficulties.<\/p>\n
Gwawr Jones, from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, said her costs \u00ab\u00a0have gone through the roof\u00a0\u00bb fuelled by a rise in inflation and drug prices, with funding stagnant.<\/p>\n
She pays \u00a33.75 for 75mg of aspirin, but the funding agreement means she can only sell it for \u00a33.05.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0This means we lose 70p for every box we give out of this life-saving drug,\u00a0\u00bb she added.<\/p>\n
She said pharmacies can sometimes get a drug concession at the end of the month that increases the reimbursement cost.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0But we won’t know that until we’ve dispensed several hundred boxes to our patients.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
She said November’s funding increases had \u00ab\u00a0not even touched the sides\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
She described running a pharmacy, in Rhoose, as \u00ab\u00a0impossible\u00a0\u00bb in the \u00ab\u00a0worst financial climate\u00a0\u00bb that she has seen in 26 years.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0You’ve also got increases in national living wage, national insurance, increases in energy costs and fuel costs to keep drivers on the road,\u00a0\u00bb she added.<\/p>\n
Jones said she recognised other industries were facing similar pressures, but the industry’s reliance on NHS income through the Welsh government meant it was difficult for owners to come up with a solution.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0There’s an approximately \u00a340m shortfall because contract payments haven’t keep up with pharmacy inflation,\u00a0\u00bb she added.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0That’s a huge burden for us to try and keep the pharmacies running.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Thomas said there was \u00ab\u00a0increasing peril\u00a0\u00bb in the sector that he has worked in for 40 years.<\/p>\n
He said it feels like Wales is \u00ab\u00a0heading off a cliff\u00a0\u00bb unless serious changes are made.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We’re having to buy drugs at a higher cost than we will actually be reimbursed for from the drug tariff,\u00a0\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0That gives us little or no margin to pay your staff or to or to pay for deliveries.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
He said pharmacies are also becoming busier because GPs and surgeries are directing patients their way to ease pressure on the health service.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It is a great initiative, but it means we’re busier all the time, which means we’re more staff intensive, and we’re not able to make the money,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We want to do the services and we want to look after our patients.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0But the current structure of how we’re reimbursed has not changed.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Thomas admits he is simply trying to \u00ab\u00a0keep the show on the road\u00a0\u00bb at the moment but says this \u00ab\u00a0cannot go on\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Last September, I took out a short term loan of \u00a370,000 just to to get us through the month,\u00a0\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I’ve run this place for more than 20 years and I owe the bank more than double what I paid for the original pharmacy.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The NPA has just released its latest statistics after surveying Welsh members.<\/p>\n
It found four in 10 pharmacies in Wales were not profitable in 2025, which has left them \u00ab\u00a0clinging on by their fingertips\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Welsh board member David Thomas said findings should \u00ab\u00a0sound major alarm bells to the Welsh government\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It is simply unsustainable and unfair to expect individual pharmacy owners to remortgage their house and dip into their pension pot to subsidise the cost of prescriptions and to keep their doors open for their patient,\u00a0\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n
The Welsh government said it \u00ab\u00a0recognised that community pharmacies are an essential part of primary care\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We have increased funding for community pharmacies by more than \u00a340m since reforms began in 2017,\u00a0\u00bb a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0This includes providing above inflation increases in recurrent funding in the last two years, a stability payment of \u00a36m to meet specific cost pressures faced by the sector and over \u00a31m in grant funding to make premises improvements to more than 100 pharmacies in all parts of Wales.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The spokesperson also said the amount pharmacies are reimbursed for medicines they dispense is set in consultation with sector representatives, using data on what they pay suppliers.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Pharmacies typically receive higher NHS reimbursement than they pay suppliers, allowing them to retain a profit margin,\u00a0\u00bb they added.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0While some medicines may be reimbursed below cost on occasions, this is offset by the profits pharmacies make on most of the medicines the dispense.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A pharmacist has racked up \u00a3145,000 in debt trying to keep his business afloat and fears he will not be able to afford to pay his staff each month. Tunde Olawoye is not alone in struggling, with pharmacists around Wales saying their costs have \u00ab\u00a0gone through the roof\u00a0\u00bb, and they are now selling items such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}