Cuts could kill off a quarter of chemists

• Thousands of community pharmacies likely to close in bid to save £170 million - while Britain hands the EU £121 million every week.
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• Vote to leave the EU on 23 June.

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Up to a quarter of England's pharmacies could close because of funding cuts, the Daily Mail highlighted earlier this year.

Health minister Alistair Burt has admitted that, due to cuts in NHS funding, as many as 3,000 out of Britain's 11,674 chemists may have to shut.

Cuts of £170million as part of efficiency savings across the NHS will reduce the money pharmacies receive for providing prescriptions.

Those most at risk are the smaller, family-run pharmacies in local communities that are far more dependent on prescription funding than retail sales, forcing older and more vulnerable people to travel further to obtain their medication.

Chemists are allocated funds each year based on how many prescriptions they dispense and additional services they provide for the community, such as flu jabs. On average, up to 90% of each pharmacy's income comes from the NHS.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Sandra Gidley from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: "We have a number of concerns. We have spent a lot of time and energy encouraging people to come to pharmacies for health advice to cut pressure on A&E departments and GP services."

For the need to save money amounting to just 10 days' worth of our net payments to the EU of £121 million every week, the government plans to cause considerable damage to local communities, more hardship for people needing prescriptions and put additional strain on already over-stretched GP and hospital services.

This is damage that can easily be avoided by voting to leave the EU on 23 June and ensuring some of the £121 million a week saved is allocated to maintaining local pharmacy services.