Rachel Gilmour

As a rural MP myself, I certainly have a grasp of what my hon. Friend addresses, and I shall come to that in a minute. Analysis conducted by the Independent Pharmacies Association shows that an average pharmacy dispensing around 10,000 items a month will face a shortfall of approximately £56,000, even after the settlement. Without a commitment to continued above-inflation funding increases year on year, patients will face an acceleration of service reductions and closures. Those closures will fall hardest on communities such as mine and that of my hon. Friend, as I will explain. My constituents have lived with these difficulties. At a cursory glance, there are 16 pharmacies across Tiverton and Minehead, serving a population of approximately 91,200. On average, they dispense 113,000 prescriptions every month because they are busy, essential, community institutions. Yet a survey of 3,000 people in Tiverton, conducted by a local GP surgery, found that 30% of respondents were unable to find a pharmacy. That should simply not be the case in 21st-century Britain. It cuts to the heart of a fundamental truth about rural healthcare and much more that successive Governments have neglected to confront.