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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Eman ZiedORCiD, Dr Alison Copeland, Professor Adetayo Kasim, Professor Andy HusbandORCiD, Professor Clare BambraORCiD, Professor Adam ToddORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Objectives: (i) determine geographical access to community pharmacy in England, (ii) explore the relationship between community pharmacy access and urbanity and multiple deprivation, and (iii) understand any changes in access over time. Design: an area level spatial analysis study exploring the relationship between spatial access to and availability of community pharmacies over the past 10 years from 2014 to 2023, deprivation and urbanicity, using GIS and descriptive statistics on a Middle layer Super Output Area level. Primary outcome measure: availability per 10,000 people of a community pharmacy in their local area. Results: for geographical access, in 2014, 91.3% of people lived within a 20-minute walk to a community pharmacy and, in 2023, this number increased to 91.7%. There was a positive relationship between geographical community pharmacy access and urbanity and geographical community pharmacy access and deprivation. For availability, the median number of community pharmacies per 10,000 people in 2014 was 1.60 while in 2023, the number reduced to 1.51 community pharmacies per 10,000 people. The most deprived areas were more likely to lose a pharmacy, compared to the least deprived areas (OR 1.65 [1.38, 1.98]).Conclusions: there is high access to community pharmacies in England with access to a community pharmacy greatest in the most deprived areas, showing that the ‘positive pharmacy care law’ remains. However, the ‘positive pharmacy care law’ is eroding as the availability of community pharmacies has reduced over time – particularly in deprived areas, with more people reliant on each community pharmacy.
Author(s): Zied Abozied E, Munford L, Copeland A, Kasim A, Husband A, Bambra C, Todd A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: BMJ Open
Year: 2025
Volume: 15
Online publication date: 11/05/2025
Acceptance date: 20/03/2025
Date deposited: 16/05/2025
ISSN (print): 2044-6055
ISSN (electronic): 2044-6055
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-095540
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-095540
Data Access Statement: Data are available upon reasonable request. Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. All of the primary data sources used to compile the database for this study are referenced within the manuscript. We are unable to share licensed data (points of interest data), but open data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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