A GROUP of Tavistock patients and dispensary staff will be led by West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox later this month to present petitions of thousands of concerned local people to No 10 Downing Street.
Mr Cox and protesters will present the petitions in a bid to 'drive home' to the Government the strong support in West Devon and Torridge for the preservation of GPs' dispensaries.
The Government is proposing to prevent GPs from dispensing medicines if they are within a mile of a pharmacy. Petitions have been collected by the Abbey Surgery in Tavistock and Okehampton Medical Centre.
Mr Cox said: 'I hope our presentation of these petitions to the Prime Minister will help to convey to the Government the complete rejection of these proposals by the people most affected.
'Patients, many of them elderly and vulnerable, in the market towns and villages of West Devon and Torridge have nothing to gain from them and much to lose.'
In a submission to the Department for Health, Mr Cox wrote: 'The proposal to prevent doctors from dispensing medicines if they are within one mile of a pharmacy would be a severe setback for the thousands of often vulnerable patients who benefit from the integrated service that doctors' dispensaries in towns such as Tavistock provide.
'Elderly and less mobile patients are particularly worried about the prospect of losing yet another rural service after the recent Post Office closures and reductions in social care and other provision.
'This is a plan designed for the cities, with no regard for the interests of rural people.'
Darren Newland, practice manager for Abbey Surgery in Tavistock, will be one of those going to London to present the petition. He said that under the current rules their dispensary could be taken away from them.
'Even local pharmaceutical committees disagree with it. There have been no impact assessments done on the effect on people living in rural areas. Elderly people who can't drive, in particular have a difficult trip to get to the doctor's, and it will be an additional problem to get to a pharmacy to pick up their drugs,' he said.
'We have a good working relationship with Boots and Lakes and we cannot see why that should change.
'We believe we are providing a vital service for patients, particularly those who don't live in the town.'
Abbey Surgery had been liaising with the Okehampton Medical Practice, who were also sending representatives to London, he said, and between them they had received more than 5,000 letters from patients backing their petitions.