Mark Supports Doctors Right to Dispense in Rural Areas

After contacting all doctors and pharmacists in his constituency to learn their views on the proposed changes to pharmacy dispensing arrangements in the Pharmacy White Paper Winchester MP Mark Oaten has today voiced his support for the continuation of doctors drug dispensing facilities.

Under current arrangements doctors practices are able to dispense prescribed drugs to patients. This is particularly vital in rural areas where individuals might not have easy or convenient access to a pharmacy.

Allowing doctors to dispense medication in this way ensures rural constituents get a high level of service. Within Marks constituency there are a number of GP surgeries that run special out-reach programmes to take the dispensing service to those who cannot get around so easily.

Changes proposed in the Pharmacy White Paper suggested taking away the rights for doctors to dispense and leaving sole responsibility for the function with pharmacies. This is part of a wider strategy of enlarging the role of pharmacies within the medical profession.

While some of the changes proposed are potentially beneficial and to be welcomed, such as increasing co-operation between doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies and allowing them to promote healthy living more effectively, there are reservations about how other proposals may undermine the quality of service.

If the law was changed patients could face the problem of having their doctors prescribe medication which they would then have to travel further away to obtain. Patients currently have the choice of where their drugs are dispensed, and can choose a pharmacy if they wish, but Mark believes the option should be theirs.

Mark does recognise that Pharmacists play an important role in providing early health diagnosis and promoting healthy living and by keeping the current status quo he believes this function will remain.

Mark Oaten commented:

“After getting the views of the relevant stakeholders in the constituency and hearing what both pharmacists and doctors had to say I believe that doctors should continue to be allowed to dispense prescribed drugs.

“I am of the view that it is vital for the quality of care in rural constituencies such as mine. Not everyone can get in to towns to reach a pharmacist and the doctors, through their out-reach programmes and local support networks, enable greater accessibility to the medication people need.

“A lot of the people I spoke to about this said there was perfect harmony between GP’s and pharmacists in local communities – so why try and fix something that isn’t broken?

“Pharmacists do brilliant work in promoting healthy living and things like that. By keeping the status quo I hope that we can continue to get the best of both worlds.

“There are some positive changes we can make – improving the role of pharmacies, improving patient choice and coordinating work better – but for rural constituents it is vital doctors are allowed to continue dispensing the drugs they prescribe.