Wrong remedy

Hypocrisy over pharmacy cuts

HEALTH SECRETARY Jeremy Hunt’s deputy, David Mowat, appears to have a very short memory. A week ago, he was advising patients to bypass their GP surgery and seek medical guidance from their local pharmacist as he hailed this sector of the NHS.

Yet it was the very same Mr Mowat who faced ridicule in the House of Commons when he confirmed that the budget for community pharmacists will be cut by seven per cent over the next two years.

He claimed that patients will receive a better service but his argument lacked conviction and many fear that hundreds of branches will now close – the prediction that Barnsley MP Michael Dugher made when he first highlighted the threat earlier this year.

Like post offices and other essential services, it would be disingenuous of the Department of Health to pass the buck. Though there will be some areas which are fortunate to have more than one chemist, this is not always the case and Ministers need to agree strict criteria on the maximum distance that patients – particularly the elderly – should be expected to travel to collect prescriptions and receive the type of advice that Mr Mowat advocated last week.

If not, Mr Mowat will find himself accused of endangering the health of those OAPs who are already being made to feel guilty of over-burdening the NHS because of the failure of successive governments to provide joined-up care.