DORSET is continuing to lose pharmacies – with many which were open two years ago having closed while others have reduced their hours, or changed hands.

The need to recruit more pharmacists is now said to be a priority in some parts of the county.

In Dorchester the ‘market provides’ rules have not worked with Poundbury said to need an additional pharmacy, possibly by persuading one in the town centre to move there.

During 2022, when the last Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment for the county was carried out there were 142 community pharmacies and two distance-selling pharmacies across the whole county, including the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area. In the Dorset Council area at the time there were 68 community pharmacies and one distance selling.

In 2022 most of the population was within 20 minutes’ drive time of a pharmacy, or in some more rural areas, a GP who can also dispense.

Since 2022 eight community pharmacies have closed; two in the Dorset Council area, one on Portland and the other at Verwood, while a new distance-selling pharmacy has opened.

None of the 11 pharmacies who used to open for 100 hours a week continue to do so with only four in the Dorset Council area now open between 72 and 78 hours a week.

Some have been seeking other solutions to opening hours with two pharmacies in Dorchester, in Maud Road and at Poundbury, due to add prescription robots to their premises to allow customers to pick up medicines 24-hours a day.

In the two years across the whole county 17 pharmacies have changed hands, nine of them in rural Dorset.

The need for a new pharmacy survey is to be discussed at a public health meeting in Dorchester in the coming week.