A pharmacist has warned his business and many others are facing closure due to rising costs and work force issues.

Amish Patel, owner of Hodgson Pharmacy in Longfield, said he "doesn't anticipate" being able to keep his business going due to the strains placed on the sector.

Amish said funding cuts to the pharmacy budget first began in 2016.

Burt now the cost of living and energy price rises, as well as staffing costs due to the rise in minimum wage, have led to a roughly 30% decrease in their funding in the last decade.

He said: "We're getting to a point now where it's just completely unsustainable. In 2020 my pharmacy made the first ever loss in its business profits.

"For a second generation pharmacy which has been established since 1985, when we've got no loans on our business, it's really worrying.

"This has been my heart and soul since I qualified 15 years ago. It's what feeds my family.

"It gives people jobs. I've got bills to pay, I've got my family to feed, I want to carry on my father's legacy and the business that he built up as well.

"We want to remain a key part of the community, we do love to be part of the community, speaking to patients every day, helping patients every day.

"It's why we get into pharmacy in the first place, to have that enjoyment of helping people so all that will be gone as well."

Amish said the forecast suggests the next two to three years will see continuous losses for his business.

The pharmacist believes unless the government can do "something drastic to increase funding" this will put him out of business.

Amish added: "That's going to put a big gap in the market for our community.

"Patients will be struggling to access pharmaceutical care, so it will increase the pressure on GPs, because we take a lot of the pressure off of GPs at the moment by seeing patients.

"We take pressure off of A&E as well so it's going to have a huge impact in the area."

"We just simply cannot do any more than we are already being asked to do"

He said medicines are becoming harder and harder to obtain, in an "unprecedented level of drug shortages".

Drugs are also increasing "exponentially" in price.

Amish said the cost of common over-the-counter drugs such antacids which counteract heartburn has gone up three times in the last year, rising from less than one pound to nearly three pounds.

The pharmacy has 800 packets of these every month, and reimbursement takes three months, so the price rise is having a huge impact on the business' cash flow.

Another issue facing the sector is the number of pharmacists leaving or being recruited into GP surgeries.

Amish addedd: "Post-Covid we've seen workforce issues in every sector across the country. Pharmacy is not immune from that either.

"We are seeing huge waves of people leaving the profession altogether, people not being attracted to the job in the first place, who are looking for a better work-life balance.

"So lots of cumulative things that are really making this just untenable going forward."

If trends continue he does not anticipate being able to keep his business going, adding: "It really is worrying, and stressful, and I'm losing sleep over it at the moment.

"We really need some emergency injection into our sector, we need to be funded for our core services that we're delivering, and further to that we need to be funded for the extra services that we can do to help relieve the pressure on our colleagues like the GPs and A&E but it all comes with funding."

When asked if he would be able to take on the extra services the government wants from pharmacists with the current funding, he said: "We simply can't. I am flat out. We just simply cannot do any more than we are already being asked to do.

"So when people are asked to go to the pharmacy first it is actually becoming draining – we just don't have those resources. It can't go on like this, it really can't."

"We're already seeing droves of pharmacies closing. If big companies like Lloyds and Boots can't make it work, how can independents like me also make it work? It really is a struggle and we put our heart and soul into it.

"Short of remortgaging my house it's just not going to happen. It is stressful, I am tired, I am burnt out without a doubt, but I do have my family to feed.

"I can only try to keep campaigning to the government that we need these changes."