HC Deb 14 April 1980 vol 982 c524W
Mr. Pavitt

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many pharmacies in rural areas in England and Wales have closed where the general practitioner has not already been dispensing during the last three years.

Dr. Vaughan

Information from family practitioner committees indicates that 12 pharmacies in rural areas in England and Wales closed during the two-year period 1978–79. General practitioners would not have been dispensing for patients living within a one-mile radius from these pharmacies; it is known that in three cases they were not dispensing for patients living outside that area and in one case they were; information is not available for the other cases, nor for 1977.