Reading West MP Martin Salter has welcomed the announcement from the Department of Health that changes to dispensing services proposed in the Pharmacy in England White Paper have been abandoned.

The proposals, which would have stopped GPs’ surgeries dispensing medicine to patients, had been opposed by Mr Salter and the doctors and dispensers of the Boathouse Surgery in Pangbourne in his constituency. Mr Salter argued in a letter to Health Minister Dawn Primarolo that the existing system benefits in particular those who live in rural areas, and those suffering from limited mobility such as the elderly, disabled, and those with small children.

Dr Michael Powell, a GP at the Boathouse Surgery had undertaken a survey of patients which found that all 625 believed that the dispensary service delivered by the practice was “convenient” and that they opposed the change.

Mr Salter said of the decision:-

“I am extremely pleased that common sense has prevailed and that the Government has listened to representations from doctors and patients, and also local MPs like myself and Richard Benyon who lobbied on their behalf. It was abundantly clear that GP pharmacies worked well for many patients and there was no reason why the system needed to change. I was opposed to seeing people who lived some distance from their local pharmacy be inconvenienced by having to make two journeys instead of one which is why I’m glad the plans have been ditched. This really was a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it’.”