A Pharmacy in Over

On top of all the other activity going on at present, there is now an application to open a pharmacy in Over. Whilst this may appear to be a positive in terms of regenerating the High Street area, it would have a very significant impact on the surgery. At present the surgery is able to operate a dispensary because there is no pharmacy within a one mile radius. The dispensary brings in enough income to fund at least one additional GP at the surgery. If a pharmacy opened, the dispensary would have to close. This would mean the closure of the dispensary. So the surgery would have to lose at least one GP. In addition, once you have been to the surgery and collected your prescription - or repeat prescription, you would then have to walk down to somewhere near the High Street (the location has not been identified) in order to have the prescription made up. This would cause serious hardship to a number of people - not least residents of Elm Court and clients at the Day Centre. It would not be popular at the surgery either - as one of the doctors said to me this week - if there is a query over a prescription the pharmacist can just pop out and ask; they couldn't do that if the pharmacy was a quarter of a mile away.
The applicants claim that a pharmacy would provide greater choice - personally I can't quite see how closing an on-site dispensary to open a pharmacy provides for greater choice.

Just as with the Post Office, it is really important that people make their views known. In this case, write to:
Contracts Department
Primary Care Services
18 Vinery Road
Cambridge CB1 3DX
But give the letter to either the Parish Clerk, or to the surgery. The closing date for comments is 5 September - so yet again, we are given just the summer holidays in which to respond.