THE fight to save Okehampton Medical Centre's dispensary service will land at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's front door this month.

A petition of 4,012 signatures from patients and residents, worried by proposals to close some rural dispensaries, will be handed in at 10 Downing Street by West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox.

He described the medical centre dispensary as 'an invaluable service which meets the needs of anyone, regardless of age, who has difficulties getting into Okehampton'.

Mr Cox said the proposal to prevent doctors from dispensing medicines if they are within one mile of a pharmacy would be a severe blow to the thousands of often vulnerable patients who benefit from the integrated service that doctors' dispensaries in towns such as Okehampton provide.

He said: 'While doubtless well-intentioned, it will drastically reduce patient choice and remove another vital service for rural people, for whom the GP's dispensary will often be a lifeline.'

Mr Cox said elderly and less mobile patients were particularly worried about the prospect of losing yet another rural service, after the recent post office closures and reductions in social care and other provisions.

'The proposals would deal them a cruel blow. In summary, it is a plan designed for the cities, with no regard for the interests of rural people,' he added.

With him when he presents the petition on Monday December 15 will be the practice manager at Okehampton Medical Centre Alison Shelton.

She said closure could mean at least six redundancies of dispensary staff, most of who have been loyal employees for more than ten years.

'Patients will have to go from seeing their doctor at the medical centre to the town centre to collect their medications after appointments. The process for receiving repeat medications will take much longer than at present,' said Mrs Shelton.

Okehampton Medical Centre has more than 12,000 patients and dispenses medications to approximately 45% of them.

If implemented, the proposal would mean patients having to travel into Okehampton centre to collect medications and it could also affect additional services — the dispensary offers a free weekly delivery service to around 12 of the surrounding villages, dropping off at selected collection points or delivering to individual houses.

West Devon Borough and Devon County Cllr Christine Marsh said: 'The dispensary at Okehampton Medical Centre is vital for people living in the countryside. I hope the petition works because a lot of people have put time and effort into signing it. If it closes, it will affect everyone.'

Borough Cllr and chairman of the overview and scrutiny committee David Weeks said: 'It may be fine for dispensaries to close in larger cities, but it is much more convenient for the rural population to get their medications from the same building.

'The overview and scrutiny committee considered the four options and what the implications would mean if we lost the dispensary.

'We carried a resolution in which we responded to the Department of Health, opposing the removal of the dispensary from any GP in West Devon.

'Our members were wholeheartedly against changing the current system and favoured option one of the White Paper.'

The Pharmacy White Paper was issued in April this year and offered four options:

l No change and maintain status quo

l Continue the arrangement but the Primary Care Trust would decide on the distance criteria.

l The distance criteria would be measured between the surgery and the pharmacy and not between the patient's home and the pharmacy, but could be less than the currant 1.6km controlled distance

l GPs could not dispense where there was a pharmacy within 500 or 1,000 metres of the GP practice and the second pharmacy within 1,500 metres.