The Labour government ran a consultation this autumn on changes to the way in which GPs can dispense medicines. At the moment, GPs can dispense medicines to patients who live more than 1 mile from a pharmacy. This is very helpful to patients who live in rural areas. In the consultation, the government proposed to change these rules so that GPs cannot dispense to patients if there is a pharmacy within 1 mile of the surgery. This would have affected patients and GPs in market towns like Pershore, Upton-upon-Severn, Evesham and Broadway.
In Parliament yesterday, Minister Phil Hope stated, "We have taken into account the views of those attending the listening events, the meetings and so on, and as a result I am pleased to announce to him that there will be no change to the current arrangements on GPs dispensing medicines to their patients."
Harriett Baldwin said, "This is fantastic news for patients in rural areas. Sir Michael Spicer and I received over 5,800 petition signatures from patients of three Worcestershire surgeries that would have been affected - Abbotswood in Pershore, Pershore Medical Practice and Upton Surgery. We passed these petitions on to the Health Minister, Alan Johnson. I also wrote to Gillian Farnfield at the Department of Health, supporting Option 1 - No Change. I am so glad that the government listened to common sense."