Victory in Netherton Pharmacy Battle

5th September 2008

Mary Creagh MP has joined with Netherton residents to celebrate victory in their battle to use local dispensary services.

NHS rules meant that doctors at the Netherton Health Centre had been told to stop dispensing to patients when a new pharmacy opened in Middlestown, as they now had a pharmacy within a mile of their homes. However, even though residents do technically live within a mile of the new pharmacy the journey is much longer by road, and there is no direct bus route. Patients would have had to either travel on two buses, face a walk up and down Coxley Valley, or go by car to collect their prescriptions.

Mary was worried about the impact on elderly and vulnerable people, and immediately contacted Wakefield PCT to ask them to relax the rules. She also wrote to health ministers asking them to intervene. Victory was achieved when Mr Alan Wittrick, the Chief Executive of Wakefield PCT agreed to allow Netherton residents to continue using the dispensary, if they could show they would have serious difficulty in reaching Middlestown.

Mary Creagh MP said: “I was delighted that the PCT saw sense on this issue. There was a huge groundswell against the decision to force people to travel to Middlestown for prescriptions. The village spoke with one voice on this and I'm delighted that the PCT have listened. I shall be writing to everyone in the village this week with a pro-forma letter, so that they can continue to use the GP prescription service.”