The National Pharmacy Association has said it will co-ordinate a “day of protest” on June 20 in response to the Government’s poor funding of community pharmacy when pharmacies will be urged to embark on a range of symbolic and practical measures.

Those measures include turning the lights out for a period, asking staff to wear black, blacking out the pharmacy’s windows, inviting candidates running in the general election to the pharmacy and using the hashtag #saveourpharmacies on social media.

The NPA said the event, which it has billed ‘One Day to #SaveOurPharmacies,’ will generate more awareness about the “dark times” that a “beleaguered community pharmacy sector” faces as increasing numbers of pharmacies close.

The NPA, who said 10 pharmacies are closing each week in England while there is “a growing risk of pharmacy closures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland”, insisted June 20 was symbolic because “that is the day from which the average pharmacy across the four nations will be loss-making overall”.

The NPA added: “There is typically only enough NHS funding to cover costs for the first three weeks of any month, after which the pharmacy service is effectively subsidised by the business.”

It said pharmacies have been putting up posters as part of the #saveourpharmacies drive, sharing stickers with patients and amassing signatures for the campaign. The NPA also urged its members to join a webinar at 7.30pm tomorrow which will provide more information about the campaign.

Its chief executive Paul Rees said: “We are taking the unprecedented step of organising a UK-wide day of pharmacy protests, to highlight the fact that there is a state of emergency within the community pharmacy sector and draw attention to the growing crisis.

“Funding for community pharmacy has been squeezed over the last decade and as a result it is now a sector in very real distress.

“More than 1,400 pharmacies have closed in England during the last 10 years and there have been closures in Wales and Northern Ireland and there is a growing risk of closures in Scotland as well.”

Reiterating his belief that medicines shortages are “being driven in part by the funding shortfall,” Rees added: “Pharmacy teams are finding it is increasingly difficult to deliver excellent patient care – and pharmacy teams themselves are suffering from increased stress and demoralisation.

“With the general election in full swing, it is vital that the politicians get the message: that there is now an emergency in our community pharmacy sector.”