NHS: Rural General Practitioner Dispensing

Viscount Tenby Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I simply ask the noble Lord why his Government introduced those rules when they were reviewed only a few years ago, before the current Administration came to office.

[Viscount Tenby (CB)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the assurances that the Minister has given so far in respect of possible closures as a result of the change in the financial arrangements and also, of course, of developments in towns, which inevitably result in the creation of new general practices and new associated pharmacies. On the question of rural practices where a proportion of patients are very old indeed, I ask the Minister to reiterate that great care will be taken that they will not be disadvantaged in any way by the future arrangements.

[Earl Howe]

Yes¸ my Lords. As I have described, there is a provision in the rules to take account of elderly and infirm people who find it difficult to travel and who may therefore still wish to have their medicines dispensed by their own dispensing GP rather than be forced to travel a longer distance.