§ Bob Spink (Castle Point)Local pharmacies are part of the primary health care service. They take a great burden off general practitioners and could do more if regulations were relaxed. They are part of the very fabric of our society, not merely retailers, but professional health care service providers. The Office of Fair Trading proposals on control of entry regulations would damage 1038 chemists and therefore the most vulnerable people in society—people who are disabled and have low mobility, who have babies in pushchairs and young children, or who are elderly. Deregulation would set back the pharmacy service for 10 years.
The petition states:
To the Honourable Commons of the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.The Humble Petition of Mr. Robert Smith, Sailesh Patel, Ashleigh Sharp, Jessica Arnold, Jackie Govier and others of like disposition sheweth that local communities are best served by local community-based pharmacies, and that the OFT recommendations to abolish the 'control of entry' regulations would seriously damage local pharmacies.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House shall urge the Government to reject proposals that would allow unrestricted opening of pharmacies able to dispense NHS prescriptions, and to preserve local pharmacies and safeguard their continuing provision of services to local communities.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray etc.To lie upon the Table.