'I racked up £145k of debt' - pharmacists struggling to stay afloat as costs soar

A pharmacist has racked up £145,000 in debt trying to keep his business afloat and fears he will not be able to afford to pay his staff each month.

Tunde Olawoye is not alone in struggling, with pharmacists around Wales saying their costs have "gone through the roof", and they are now selling items such as aspirin at a loss.

Around 60% of pharmacy owners in Wales have remortgaged their house or used personal savings to keep the doors open in the last year, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).

The Welsh government said it had made "significant investment in the sector in recent years", including increased funding for core services to enable reforms.

Newport-based pharmacist Geoff Thomas has worked in the industry for 40 years and warned things are "heading off a cliff", unless there is serious change.

Another described how she pays £3.75 for aspirin and sells it for £3.05.

"It's not sustainable at all," said Olawoye, 54.

"They need to invest more in the profession because we are the frontline of health in this country."

When his debt spiralled to £145,000, he had to set up a repayment arrangement to satisfy his creditors.

He contemplated selling the business in New Quay, Ceredigion, but realised money from the sale would not be enough to cover bank loans.

"These are the challenges that you deal with day in, day out," he added.

"Now I have decided I'm not going to sell my business at a loss, I'm going to try everything to make it profitable again."

Why are pharmacies in Wales struggling?

An amount is agreed with the Welsh government and covers things such as dispensing, professional fees, clinical services and operational costs incurred at the pharmacy.

But owners are saying this is not enough and it has not risen in real terms in a decade.

Pharmacists are struggling in other parts of the UK too, with analysis last year showing England's network was at its smallest for 20 years due to closures.

Services in Northern Ireland were also described as "at breaking point" last year because of funding difficulties.

Gwawr Jones, from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, said her costs "have gone through the roof" fuelled by a rise in inflation and drug prices, with funding stagnant.

She pays £3.75 for 75mg of aspirin, but the funding agreement means she can only sell it for £3.05.

"This means we lose 70p for every box we give out of this life-saving drug," she added.

She said pharmacies can sometimes get a drug concession at the end of the month that increases the reimbursement cost.

"But we won't know that until we've dispensed several hundred boxes to our patients."

She said November's funding increases had "not even touched the sides".

She described running a pharmacy, in Rhoose, as "impossible" in the "worst financial climate" that she has seen in 26 years.

"You've also got increases in national living wage, national insurance, increases in energy costs and fuel costs to keep drivers on the road," she added.

Jones said she recognised other industries were facing similar pressures, but the industry's reliance on NHS income through the Welsh government meant it was difficult for owners to come up with a solution.

"There's an approximately £40m shortfall because contract payments haven't keep up with pharmacy inflation," she added.

"That's a huge burden for us to try and keep the pharmacies running."

Thomas said there was "increasing peril" in the sector that he has worked in for 40 years.

He said it feels like Wales is "heading off a cliff" unless serious changes are made.

"We're having to buy drugs at a higher cost than we will actually be reimbursed for from the drug tariff," he said.

"That gives us little or no margin to pay your staff or to or to pay for deliveries."

He said pharmacies are also becoming busier because GPs and surgeries are directing patients their way to ease pressure on the health service.

"It is a great initiative, but it means we're busier all the time, which means we're more staff intensive, and we're not able to make the money," he added.

"We want to do the services and we want to look after our patients.

"But the current structure of how we're reimbursed has not changed."

Thomas admits he is simply trying to "keep the show on the road" at the moment but says this "cannot go on".

"Last September, I took out a short term loan of £70,000 just to to get us through the month," he said.

"I've run this place for more than 20 years and I owe the bank more than double what I paid for the original pharmacy."

'Essential part of primary care'

The NPA has just released its latest statistics after surveying Welsh members.

It found four in 10 pharmacies in Wales were not profitable in 2025, which has left them "clinging on by their fingertips".

Welsh board member David Thomas said findings should "sound major alarm bells to the Welsh government".

"It is simply unsustainable and unfair to expect individual pharmacy owners to remortgage their house and dip into their pension pot to subsidise the cost of prescriptions and to keep their doors open for their patient," he said.

The Welsh government said it "recognised that community pharmacies are an essential part of primary care".

"We have increased funding for community pharmacies by more than £40m since reforms began in 2017," a spokesperson said.

"This includes providing above inflation increases in recurrent funding in the last two years, a stability payment of £6m to meet specific cost pressures faced by the sector and over £1m in grant funding to make premises improvements to more than 100 pharmacies in all parts of Wales."

The spokesperson also said the amount pharmacies are reimbursed for medicines they dispense is set in consultation with sector representatives, using data on what they pay suppliers.

"Pharmacies typically receive higher NHS reimbursement than they pay suppliers, allowing them to retain a profit margin," they added.

"While some medicines may be reimbursed below cost on occasions, this is offset by the profits pharmacies make on most of the medicines the dispense."