COMMUNITY pharmacies are in danger of going out of business under the present prescription payment system, MP Tim Farron has warned.

Speaking during a Westminster Hall debate, he explained that money pharmacies receive from the NHS does not even cover the cost of the drugs being dispensed.

“In one shocking case, a pharmacist in my constituency in a relatively small Lake District village, who I have visited regularly, received in one single month £5,000 less in NHS payments than they had to pay out in wholesale drug payments," said the Westmorland and Lonsdale MP

In response, health minister Jo Churchill said that the Government was seeking “to ensure a fairer system of reimbursement for pharmacy contractors and value for money for the NHS.”