00:00Pharmacy owners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have reportedly voted in favour of
00:05cutting opening hours and stopping home deliveries for the first time in a protest over government
00:11funding. The National Pharmacy Association, which ran a ballot, is calling on the government
00:16for an annual £1.7 billion funding increase in order to plug a quote financial hole. The
00:22NPA itself represents around half of the UK's community pharmacies and the organisation
00:28reported that 99% of those who responded to the vote said they were willing to limit
00:32their services unless funding was improved. The Department of Health in England said that
00:37it wants all pharmacies to work with it to achieve a service fit for the future. Interestingly,
00:42it's also been reported that pharmacies have said they feel trapped in an NHS system which
00:47is not giving them the money they need to supply medicines to their customers. The BBC
00:52reported that one pharmacy manager said that she had resulted in turning away frustrated
00:57patients because she couldn't justify the cost of buying in some drugs.
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