§ Mr. Lomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will encourage general practitioners to do more dispensing in their own premises; how many there are in the West Yorkshire Area; and how many of these have, and use, dispensing services.
§ Mr. Moyle:The circumstances in which doctors supply medicines to their patients are set out in Regulation 30 of the NHS (General Medical and Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1974. I should be prepared to consider changes in this regulation only if they were agreed by both the medical and the pharmaceutical professions and were in the interests of patients. A joint committee of the two professions under the chairmanship of Mr. C. M. Clothier, QC, is currently considering the arrangements for the supply of medicines in rural areas and is expected to report shortly.
At 1st October 1976, there were in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire 886 general medical practitioners, of whom 52 provided a dispensing service.