SHUT SHOP
Tesco AXING key service in several stores in blow to shoppers
Scroll down to find out what other supermarkets have closed in-store pharmacies
TESCO is set to axe a key service in several stores in a blow for shoppers.
The UK's biggest supermarket is culling nearly a dozen of its in-store pharmacies this year.
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The closures are the result of a review by the supermarket as .
Tesco said the 10 pharmacies will continue to operate as normal before shutting to the public, though the locations and dates they will shut have not yet been shared.
Staff will put up signage in the affected pharmacies informing customers they will shut for good.
This will include information signposting shoppers to their nearest alternative pharmacy.
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The retailer said shoppers will be able to find another Tesco pharmacy within a 5-mile radius.
The supermarket currently has around 360 pharmacies in Tesco stores across the country.
As well as filling prescriptions they offer a range of services such as blood pressure checks and flu jabs.
A spokesperson said: "Following a comprehensive review, last month we took the difficult decision to close a small number of our pharmacies later this year, in line with customer demand.
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"We remain committed to providing our customers with the very best pharmacy services and continue to have a network of over 350 pharmacies across the country open and ready to help."
The Sun has asked Tesco for the list of locations that will close and their closure dates and will update this story when we have heard back.
TOP TESCO BUYS
The latest closures come after Tesco announced plans to shut eight megastore pharmacy sites in 2023.
The locations that closed were previously open 100 hours a week, but not receiving high enough footfall to stay open.
The supermarket had already said it was planning on closing some of its pharmacies at the start of 2023 as part of restructuring plans.
PHARMACY CLOSURES
Pharmacies across the UK have struggled for years due to cuts in government funding and the soaring cost of medicine.
Chemists are also being asked to pick up extra slack from the NHS by providing more services, such as vaccinations.
Around 1,250 pharmacies have closed since 2017, with the pace of closures speeding up in the last two years as pharmacies face a 40% cut in their budgets.
Lloyds Pharmacy announced a raft of closures in 2023, withdrawing 237 branches from Sainsbury's stores.
Lloyds Pharmacy sites not based in Sainsbury's stores stayed open temporarily.
Later that year, it sold its more than 1,000 high street and community pharmacies to independent and entrepreneurs.
It came after the supermarket chain struck a deal to sell its pharmacy business to Lloyds in 2015 for £125million.
In the same year, Asda said it would close seven of its 254 in-store pharmacies due to low customer usage.
Meanwhile, last November, Paul Rees, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, warned more local pharmacies will close following the Government's tax raid on businesses.
From April, employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will be hiked from 13.8% to 15% and the threshold at which they are paid lowered to £5,000.
The national minimum wage will also be rising, creating a double whammy of hits to businesses.
Harry McQuillan, chairman of Numark Pharmacy, which has 5,500 independent community pharmacies in its network, told The Sun: “Unlike retailers and other businesses pharmacies can’t increase prices to cover these rising costs because 90% of pharmacy revenue is NHS dependent.”
“I know one local pharmacy owner who is having to find £600 a month extra because of the Budget.
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"This is not a big pharmacy, they will struggle to keep their doors open."
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