Pharmacy bosses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted for the first time to cut opening hours and stop home deliveries in protest against government funding.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which ran the poll, is calling for an annual funding increase of £1.7 billion to close the “financing hole”.

The NPA represents the UK’s 6,500 community pharmacies – almost half of them. It said that 99% of those who responded to the vote said they were willing to limit their services unless funding was improved.

The Department of Health in England says it wants all pharmacists to work with it to get the service fit for the future.

Some 3,339 independent community pharmacies across England, Wales and Northern Ireland took part in the unprecedented vote, which saw a 64% turnout.

The vote comes after the Budget saw increases to National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage.

The NPA says the government has not committed to supporting pharmacies to cover these costs, unlike other parts of the NHS.

The pharmacies body, which is not a trade union, says workload and budget cuts have led to the closure of 700 pharmacies in England in the last two years alone – the equivalent of seven per week.

It says core government pharmacy funding in England has fallen by 40% since 2015-16, after adjusting for inflation.

The NPA says if funding is not increased it will have no choice but to recommend pharmacies withdraw services from the start of the new year.

Pharmacies can decide:

• Must not be open more than 40 hours a week, including evenings and weekends

• Stopping free home delivery of medicines that are not financed

• Do not provide emergency contraception, substance abuse and smoking support services

• Refusing to cooperate with certain data requests

• Stopping the supply of free monitored dosage systems (medicine packs) other than those covered under the Disability Discrimination Act

The Pharmacy First service, which launched in England in January, expanded the range of services provided by pharmacies, including treatment for sinusitis, earache and ringworm.

Members are not being asked to opt out of the scheme, but it will be impacted by reduced opening hours and the suspension of locally introduced services, the NPA said.

The NPA says urgent funding negotiations are needed with the government to guarantee patient safety and services for vulnerable people.

Pharmacy funding is set by devolved governments, but medicine funding arrangements – known as the drug tariff – for pharmacies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are set by Westminster.

Scottish pharmacies have a separate system, and are not included in the current poll.

Dr Leyla Hanbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said: “The community pharmacy sector is in a growing crisis with a £1.7 billion shortfall in its funding. This is made worse by rises in employers’ National Insurance, which have resulted in An extra £12,000 a year for our members.

“As health care professionals, we believe that any withdrawal of our members’ valuable and important professional services should not cause distress to patients.

“The government must urgently increase pharmacy funding to prevent further closure of community pharmacies.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Community pharmacy has an important role to play as we shift the focus of care from hospital to community as part of the fundamental reforms in our 10-year health plan.

“Unfortunately, we have inherited a system that has been neglected for too long and is no longer supporting the pharmacists we need to supply patients locally.”