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The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has raised its concerns over rising cost of rent for its members. The association highlighted that pharmacy spending is shrinking, and therefore, the NHS Property Services must ensure viability of health centre pharmacies. In May, the NPA wrote to NHS Property Services to voice its concerns over the rising cost of rent after some of its members reported demands for a three-fold increase in rent. Many pharmacies operate in premises of which NHS Property Services is the landlord. In a letter last month to chief executive Martin Steele, NPA said: "The past years have seen far fewer patients in health centres and therefore using the on-site pharmacy - whilst the situation will change somewhat as we move out of the pandemic we expect a permanent impact on workload as practices handle more of their interactions virtually. "The NPA encourages NHS Property Services to review lease agreements involving community pharmacies and consider favourable changes to terms that are in line with current financial realities affecting the sector. This could avoid the loss of a pharmacy service to communities and the resulting loss of rental income to NHS Property Services."

In many cases, a pharmacy's most valuable asset is its NHS contract. This is what buyers are paying for - the right to provide pharmaceutical services commissioned by the NHS and be reimbursed for the medicines dispensed. However, a pharmacy consists of more than just an NHS contract and when buyers look for a pharmacy to buy, they will also examine these other areas - the pharmacy's customer base, its staff, the property it operates from - to name a few - because these are all also crucial to a successful pharmacy. In this day and age, another important consideration is the pharmacy's intellectual property (IP) i.e. the pharmacy's rights to certain types of information, ideas, and forms of expression. At the most basic level, this includes the trade mark in the name of the pharmacy, because all pharmacies will have a name by which they distinguish themselves from other pharmacies. The more well-known the name, the more valuable this form of IP is - mention 'Boots', for example, and most will have an instant association with the largest pharmaceutical retailer in the UK.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has been in dialogue with the senior management of NHS Property Services to bring down the rent for community pharmacies based in NHS health centres. Association said: "Community pharmacies based in NHS health centres are struggling to make ends meet due to expensive rental rates." It is calling for pharmacies to have the ability to renegotiate rental rates part way through a contract. Gareth Jones, Director of Corporate Affairs at the NPA, said landlords need to take into account that pharmacy spending power is shrinking and the previous formula used to set rental rates is no longer fit for purpose. "It no longer makes sense to calculate based on historical assumptions about how many prescriptions the co-located GP will generate for the pharmacy," he said.

The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp) and senior official of NHS Property Services (NHSPS) had a meeting on August 18 to review the rent policy for health centre pharmacies. Earlier, the association had sent a letter to NHSPS that was signed by pharmacies from across the sector, including single independents, pharmacy groups and members of the Company Chemists' Association. The letter outlined concerns about rent reviews and the impact of it on the co-located health centre pharmacies. Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of AIMp, said: "We outlined that whilst in the past, the norm established by the industry, was to base rents for co-located pharmacies primarily based on patient list size, (and taking account of a few other factors), the industry now needs to revise the basis on which rents are determined for co-located pharmacies." The association, on behalf of the pharmacy sector, met the CEO of NHSPS and two of their senior directors (director or property management and their finance director).

A community pharmacy in Consett, County Durham, North East England, has been sold to a locum pharmacist after the previous owner decided to put it on the market following 29 years of ownership. Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, recently announced the sale of Moorside Pharmacy, a 30-hour community pharmacy that dispenses an average of 3,200 NHS items per month. Located 1.5 miles west of Consett, the pharmacy shares a building with a small GP surgery in Moorside. Rachel Hurst, who has owned it since 1995, brought it to the market to downsize her operations and focus on her busier pharmacies - one in Consett and two in Crook, County Durham, according to the broker. Following a confidential sales process, locum pharmacist Monju Miah has acquired the pharmacy. He plans to manage it hands-on and introduce additional services that will benefit the local population, the broker stated.

Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, on Tuesday (7 November) announced the sale of Macbon Chemist for the first time in 35 years. The popular community pharmacy, which is located in the heart of the Tollcross area in the east end of Glasgow, dispenses 8,000 National Health System (NHS) items per month. Elizabeth McLaughlin owned the pharmacy since 1987, recently decided to retire and sold the pharmacy for an undisclosed sum. She had been running it along with a team of employed and locum pharmacists. The pharmacy was bought by Ron Badger who owns and runs another pharmacy in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow.