§ Mr. Quentin DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on differences in practice between(a) England and Wales and (b) Scotland in respect of the capacity of general practitioners to dispense pharmaceuticals directly to their patients; and if he will assess the advantages of adopting the Scottish regime in England and Wales. [25441]
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§ Mr. MilburnPharmaceutical services are provided to patients in both England and Wales and in Scotland mainly by pharmacists. However, general medical practitioners in all three countries may dispense medicines to patients who would otherwise have difficult access to them. In England and Wales patients must be resident in a designated rural area more than one mile from a community pharmacy, otherwise they must satisfy the health authority that they would have serious difficulty obtaining medicines. In Scotland, Health Boards instruct doctors to provide such services where they conclude that patients would not have access to a pharmacy. It is not clear that the Scottish system offers any major advantages over that operating in England and Wales.
§ Mr. Quentin DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations he has received about the use of regulations providing for general practitioners to dispense drugs directly in rural areas, by practices in market towns to dispense to patients in surrounding villages. [25811]
§ Mr. MilburnThe National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992 allow dispensing doctors to dispense to patients living more than a mile from the nearest pharmacy, within a controlled locality (designated by the health authority). We have received a number of representations from pharmacists about doctors dispensing medicines to patients in outlying areas from a surgery located in a market town or adjacent to a community pharmacy.