NI loses two more community pharmacies in the last year
Northern Ireland has lost two more pharmacies in the last year, with current figures showing 506 community pharmacies here at the end of 2025/26.
Responsible for dispensing over 99% of prescription items in the last year, community pharmacies provide a critical service to local communities across the region. Indeed, over 99% of the population live within five miles of their nearest pharmacy.
The Health and Social Care’s Business Services Organisation (BSO) has published its General Pharmaceutical Services for NI Annual Statistics 2025/26, which outlines information on prescription dispensing and payments in relation to community dispensing.
While revealing there are two fewer pharmacies than last year, the report also shows that on average, each community pharmacy dispensed over 91,000 prescription items in 2025/26, an increase of over 2% on the previous year.
Notably, in 2024/25, the most recent year with data available across all UK regions, Northern Ireland had the highest ingredient cost per person at approximately £258. This was 36% higher than England, where the equivalent cost was just over £190 in the same year.
The total number of items dispensed by all contractors increased by 2% to 46.4 million in 2025/26, compared with the previous year and is the highest annual level of dispensing recorded in Northern Ireland, 14% higher than in 2015/16. This equated to 2.3 million prescription forms per month, on average, being processed throughout the year, an increase of more than 3% on last year.
The total ingredient cost (before discount) of items dispensed over the year was £510 million – an increase of 3% on the previous year. The annual total ingredient cost fell each year between 2015/16 and 2018/19 but has since been on an upward trend and is now 16% higher than a decade ago.
In addition to the reimbursement pharmacy contractors received for products dispensed, £135 million of other payments were processed, an increase of 7% (£9m) on the previous year. These payments relate to a variety of services and professional fees, as well as additional payments for services such as advice and treatment of everyday healthcare conditions, stop smoking service and vaccinations.
