Cutting care clusters: the creation of an inverse pharmacy care law? An area-level analysis exploring the clustering of community pharmacies in England.

Clustering of community pharmacies in England is common, although there is a positive trend between community pharmacy clustering and social deprivation, whereby clustering is more significant in areas of high deprivation. Arrangements for future community pharmacy funding should not solely focus on distance from one pharmacy to another as means of determining funding allocation, as this could penalise community pharmacies in our most deprived communities, and potentially have a negative effect on other healthcare providers, such as general practitioner and accident and emergency services.