Sandy Morton says

Thanks for flagging this up June - I thought it was just a Millport rumour when I heard it first (this morning).

June Allison says

Unfortunately not Sandy. I have just spoken to one of our doctors who confirms that we cannot have 2 pharmacies here so if this Application was granted, the Doctors pharmacy would have to close with the loss of the 6 dispensing girls' jobs.
Then there is the security aspect - the shop mentioned which I hear has not been sold - could not be as secure for drugs as the Garrison setup here. I am utterly appalled that someone would come here to open a business that would have such a large negative impact on our small community and sincerely hope that this person thinks again. Please everyone - fill in the form and make your views known.
Thanks
June

June Allison says

I know I'm going on BUT I am so angry - we would lose the Doctor's pharmacy definitely as they would be given no option by the Health Board but to close, so the Application from this person is not only full of spelling mistakes and inaccuracies, it also lists things that she COULD do that our Doctors do now including everything but the "Homeopathic Information".
Every other thing our GP's already do.
For the attention of everyone here is a statistic for you: For the past 25 years there has NOT been one minute 24/7 when a Doctor was not available to the people of Cumbrae.
We neither need nor want this sort of interference from someone only interested in starting up a business.

June Allison says

Here I am again! Sorry but another aspect of this could be that with less income coming into the Doctor's practice it would make it a less attractive option for any new Doctors to come to Millport once our present Doctors retire.
So many problems could be caused by this!

Ann Smyth says

June, is it possible for members of the public to view this application?

June Allison says

Yes Ann - there's a copy on the desk in the Garrison Reception.
I hope lots of people will fill in the forms and stop this outrage as if the proposed place opens and then the owner decides she doesn't like it and goes, we'll have lost our pharmacy, 6 jobs and our lady doctor with the ongoing threat to the Garrison - all for nothing!
Anyway, why should we need anything different to what we have now. Especially as the doctors are thinking about speeding up repeat prescription times and having more pharmacy hours.

June Allison says

The other point is Ann that the application states "it would work alongside our present pharmacy service" which is an UNTRUTH! The doctors have been told by the Health Board that if this application is improved that THE DOCTORS PHARMACY MUST CLOSE - NO OPTIONS!

Frank Corcoran says

Well done June, I have been told by a senior member of Ayrshire and Arran Primary Care that our doctors practice is of such a high standard that the rest of the NHS in Scotland should use it as a model to copy.
As you rightly say this is just a business venture and would soon be sold off to one of the big groups for profit leaving us the good people of Millport and Cumbrae without what is an exelent service, possibly the best in Scotland.
SO FOLKS ALL PICK UP A FORM GET IT FILLED IN AND SENT OFF LET THE NHS KNOW OF OUR CONCERNS, WE COULD ALSO START A CAMPAIGN TO MACK SURE THAT THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN NOW OR ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE.

Jean Kerr (McKinnon) says

Consultation forms to protest against this application will be available at the Forum Lunch Club in the D A Hall on Wednesday, when we are hoping the Doctors will attend to speak to the Forum members around 1.00pm.

June Allison says

Consultation Forms in Marinas too - so ladies no excuse - protest while you curl and dry! Will try to get some in Post Office too.

June Allison says

Frank = you are so right and we are so lucky to have such a brilliant service from such a dedicated team.

Linda Malcolm says

I think that a few years ago a similar letter was sent, probably by the same lady as I seem to remember that comments were made regarding the spelling etc. From memory, this was when the Post Office was for sale.

I thought that the Community Council or another of the island's commities refused her application, could they also take similar action this time? If the community also let its feelings be known to this person and any other person who has a similar notion in the future this will hopefully stop this issue being raised every time a suitable premises comes onto the market.

June Allison says

Hi Linda
Unfortunately the only people who can refuse her application are the Ayrshire & Arran Health Board - all we can do is make ALL of our feelings known. This is one thing that we must fight together so PLEASE everyone fill in one of the forms so that this does not happen.
We cannot have lifeline services in private hands. If anyone wishes to phone me with their email address, I will forward the application etc. to them.
June

dugald McIntyre says

Is there a date by which these forms must be returned?

June Allison says

Beginning of April Dugald I think but the sooner the better so we don't forget.
You can get one in the Garrison, at the Elderly Forum Lunch, Marinas and I am going to ask the Post Office to take them too.
Thanks
June

Gillian Docherty says

Locals can also join the North Ayrshire Public Partnership Forum, who will then send such matters of community interest to your attention. I have been sent the application for my views on it to be returned to the PPF so that they can then consider community groups and locals opinions. If anyone would like more information, please email me at gharkin66@hotmail.com.

Stephen Dobbin says

Can we have some at the VG too please? I took some from Marina's and the Post Office and these have all gone! Also, people seem to think that this is a petition, as they have been signing a form at the VG. Just a thought, but should we do a petition in conjunction with the forms for Ayrshire and Arran Health Board???

June Allison says

Brilliant Stephen - I'll drop in some more forms too.
Do whatever you think that will get the message across to the Health Board. Thanks.

Margaret Kennedy says

Can we have some at The Royal George Hotel too? Thanks Margaret

June Allison says

Drop them in tomorrow Margaret - June.

chris wright says

Can anyone E Mail me a form? I may live 500 miles away, but I am a resident (albeit only now and again), but I love the Island and would like my opinions heard as well.
chrisatcroxley@yahoo.co.uk
Many Thanks and keep up the fight!

June Allison says

Consultation Pack forwarded to you last night Chris. Did you receive it o.k?

j smith says

I find the proposed scenario disturbing....as I do with the Staffordshire Hospital enquiry. My opinion is to know by name the people involved in the Arran and Ayrshire Health Board who would be responsible for making such a disasterous decision. Too often such people hide behind anonimity....and their names are good in a class action.

June Allison says

Please may I just say I hope no one is apportioning blame to the owners of the shop Ms. McSorley wants. If it isn't this shop, it would be another. Don't forget that if this application is granted, she doesn't actually have to open a shop here or anywhere on Cumbrae - she can sell the license on to another pharmacy - so let's not blame each other but support the Pharmacy we have now and our Doctors.

Charles Kelly says

June, can you email me a Consultation Pack so that I can get it filled in as early as possible. Happy to do anything else to assist blocking this application

June Allison says

Forwarded Charles - hope you got it o.k.

jim bryson says

We are grateful to s1millport for acting as a forum for discussion of the threat to the island's dispensary. The situation of all dispensing doctors has been described as having a 'sword of Damocles' hanging over them. This takes the form of an application by a pharmacist to open a pharmacy in the neighbourhood with subsequent compulsory closure of the doctor's dispensary. Any business planning which the doctors have in place is suddenly destroyed. It is generally accepted in business practice that at any time a business can be faced with competition. Whilst this is often unwelcome this is regarded as fair and beneficial to the customer. What is preposterous about the current situation is that in this case the doctor's dispensary will be told to close and will not be permitted to compete. The disbelief of those who hear of these regulations is a measure of their absurdity.

Dispensing accounts for more than half of the practice income. Therefore if the pharmacy application is successful, there will be a reduction in services, redundancies among staff and loss of doctor(s). It will also compromise the Garrison project since four rooms in the surgery will lie empty.

We have been reading of the experiences of other dispensing doctors in the same plight as ourselves - at Leuchars, Balmullo, Tarves, Dounby in Orkney, Chirnside in the Borders, Drymen and Aberfoyle. Most of the stories are the same often with petitions and protest letters being ignored. We found www.patientsods.com an interesting website. It takes the pharmacist an hour to type 2 A4 sheets of application and it takes the doctors years of stress to defend their practice services and business plan. We understand that the regulations in England are better. There, if a dispensing doctor's list is less than 1750 the GPs retain their right to dispense.

Thankyou for your support.
Jim and Liz Bryson

chris wright says

June,

Pack received, thanks.

Larry Gilmour says

I am not a permanent resident (yet) of the island but it is dear to my heart. We live in the rural central belt and one of our Doctor's practices is under threat because of a similar situation. Profiteering is the only motive behind these applications and if we lose something because it is granted, you can bet your life we won't get it back and if it is subsequently deemed "unprofitable" they'll pull out and leave us with nothing! Can we as part-timers register our protest at this blatant profiteering threat to what, as others here have noted is an excellent practice? If so can it be emailed? Thanks

liz bryson says

                                                                     SOS

The doctors at Cumbrae Medical Practice would like to invite you to an open afternoon at the Practice on Tuesday 9th March 2pm-4pm. Come along for a tea or coffee and a chat. Find out what the pharmacy application means for our community. See 'behind the scenes' in the Dispensary.

June Allison says

Larry - give me your email and I'll get it to you.
June

Mary Carolyn Lawson says

Well done, Surgery Staff! The more information people have, the better able to make an informed decision when it comes time to vote.

Larry Gilmour says

Thanks June. My email is gilmourl51@aol.com. I've spoken to the wife of one of the Doctors in the practice to which I referred, and she told me the application had been refused even after appeal! So that's encouraging! Keep up the pressure!

June Allison says

That's great news. Forms on their way.

Mary C. Lawson - I don't think there can be any question of us "voting" we have to submit the Consultation Forms which are around the town.

In any case, what possible doubt could there be? This application is all about business - what we have is a Dedicated Service that has served us magnificently for the past 25 years. We cannot have a lifeline service in the hands of private business again - remember what happened to our Care Homes.

What may not be understood is that even if this lady is granted her application it will definitely mean the closure of the Doctors' pharmacy - but SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO OPEN!

She can sell the licence on, or she can decide to open up anywhere on Cumbrae. She will not be tied to the shop she has mentioned. nor indeed anywhere on the front street!

We'd be like turkeys - voting for Christmas!

eileen mcaulay says

I am a member of the surgery staff and a qualified Pharmacy Technician. I have more than 20 years experience working in pharmacies, both public and private sectors and I can say with complete confidence that the prescription service presently provided by the surgery to Cumbrae residents is second to none.

People must understand that the almost individual and personal service they now receive will be lost forever and never to return if this application is approved.

Like any private business it can be here today and gone tomorrow. The problem is that inbetween the coming and going the heart of the surgery will have been lost. Indeed with the loss of dispensing services it is quite possible that local doctors will become a thing of the past!!

The Health Board need to be left in no doubt that Cumbrae doesn't want to be left with part time health care. I urge the entire community to complete the consultation forms that are available and tell the Health Board that Cumbrae wants to keep its dispensing services exactly as they are.

Eileen McAulay

June Allison says

Hear Hear Eileen and can I thank all those who have filled in the forms and urge all of those who have not, to pick one up in the Surgery or the Garrison and make their voices heard.

notimpressed notimpressed says

get a grip are you lot in the back pocket of the brisons or what ! they make money for what they are paid to do ! The NHS are paid to do a job not satisfy deludid needs ! the doctor numbers will not change nor the access to emergence drugs Who Told You all this bad stuff was going to happen ? There are legal requirements to change medical standards?

Stephen Dobbin says

I appreciate and respect the fact that some people might not have the same opinions as others, but let's not hide behind daft wee names. If you are going to have the balls to say these things then have the balls to tell us who you are. We could all make names up and post anything we like, but it defeats the point of having an open forum to discuss things on.

June Allison says

notimpressed!!
What doesn't impress me are people without the courage to put their name to their comments. Who ever you are "not impressed" you are a fool who obviously knows less than nothing about the subject.
Not only is your comment badly spelled showing a lack of education, (as is the applicant's application) the points you are trying to make are perhaps spurred on by your own personal interests and not those of this community.
If you've something to say - as Stephen says - have the balls to come out and say who you are.
Like all anonymous letters - yours should be consigned to the dustbin, along with your ludicrous assertions.

dunks mclachlan says

I fully agree with you June and everyone else I don't think these people realize what they will do to the island or they just don't care about the people of the island and all they want is the money!!!! Not to mention all the people that will be out of work and the families that will struggle and the impact on the money the businesses will lose.

eileen mcaulay says

I'm sorry to say but despite what 'not impressed' may think the number of doctors will reduce. Firstly the income from the dispensing service pays for at least one doctor, so in the short term there will 1 doctor less. That will mean a poorer service.

In the longer term the lack of a dispensing service will make the practice a less financially attractive proposition for any new doctors considering moving to the island.

In between times it is extremely unlikely that the current arrangements for out of hours access to medicine will continue to be sustainable. For example doctors won't have access to supplies in the new Pharmacy because it will be closed!

Whilst 'not impressed' may be willing to gamble the present 'Rolls Royce' service against the questionable and limited benefits suggested by this latest application, I sincerely hope that few others are prepared to take that same gamble. There will be no second chance!

Eileen McAulay

June Allison says

Quite right Eileen and as "unimpressed" asked who told us that the Doctors' Pharmacy would have to close - well that was the Health Board - but what would they know?????????????

Sandy Morton says

I do NOT like the post by an unidentifiable poster - particularly when the comment is so badly written. I may not agree with some of the posts on s1millport but I respect the right of an identifiable individual to speak their mind.

MARION LIVINGSTONE says

As you will have all seen the banner saying 'HANDS OFF OUR PHARMACY!!' has been removed from the Garrison grounds. This was after some people reportedly thought that it was in support of the current application. NOT TRUE!! It will be altered to a legend which will allow no dubiety regarding our support for our surgery and services. IT WILL BE BACK VERY SHORTLY.

Sandra Goldie says

I don't live in Millport, but on my annual visits have been impressed by the health care available. Can I also have a copy of what ever I can sign to help fight this. I am astounded that the Health Board can pass a new application for a pharmacy and then have the power to force the closure of the present one. This leaves the way open for corruption, although I am not suggesting this is the case here. Is there no appeal process to fight this power, as if both pharmacies were there, then the population could vote with their feet. That is supposed to be the point of competition. To approve a new application and then force closure of the present pharmacy is completely against the idea of competition, which is supposedly so dear to the hearts of our rulers at all levels.

Why do I think that the powers that be are trying to get rid of all the good examples of medical practices. Just like schools they want to reduce everyone to the lower levels rather than improve the bad ones to the standards of those like the one in Millport.

I also am disgusted at the person who concealed their identity. If they have something to say, which is contrary to what the majority thinks, then they have every right to their opinion, but if they wish to express it publicly, then surely they could have the guts to say who they are.

June Allison says

Sandra - ring 530131 with your address and Jean will get a pack to you.
Cheers
June

Site Admin says

We ask people to please post under their real names here on s1millport because it detracts from the debate if we then discuss someone's anonymity instead of the issue at hand.

Site Admin says

There's a report by Dr Allan Tennant on the Dispensing Doctors' Association website: Scottish Island gets another pharmacy application - Medical services jeopardised.

"A dispensing medical practice with a very small population could be destabilised by a pharmacy application and could also adversely affect the community building in which the practice is situated."

Sandy Morton says

Submissions to the AAPCT can be made by :-

"You can submit your comments regarding the new pharmacy application using any of the following media:

By email; PrimaryCare@aapct.scot.nhs.uk By post using the freepost address; or
By telephone

We are happy to accept comments by any of those means."

Mine has gone by email.

liz bryson says

The staff at the surgery would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to everybody who attended the open afternoon at the surgery on Tuesday 9th March. It was hailed a great success. We all appreciate your support during this very stressful time.

Susan Baird says

Fact: The dispensary attached to the GP surgery is NOT a pharmacy. 'Pharmacy' is a legally protected title restricted to premises registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, with the most obvious distinction between a pharmacy and a dispensary being the presence of a *pharmacist*. A 'pharmacy technician' is not a pharmacist - however 'Pharmacy Technician' is also a legally protected title, and it would appear that Ms McAuley is not on the register of Pharmacy Technicians held by the RPSGB. Perhaps she might clarify if she is a registered pharmacy technician?

Susan Baird says

Another fact: The girl who has applied to open a pharmacy will be running a business. A pharmacy business contracts to the NHS to provide NHS services. The GPs who own the surgery are running a business. A GP business contracts to the NHS to provide NHS services. There is absolutely NO difference between the two, other than the obvious fact that one business provides NHS pharmaceutical services and the other provides NHS general medical services. The GPs at Millport are unusual in that they have been requested by the NHS board to provide a medicines dispensing services BECAUSE THERE IS NO PHARMACY. This is a valuable service in areas where there is insufficient population to support a pharmacy, but in Scotland it has always been the case that where there is sufficient population then medicines should always be supplied from registered pharmacies.

Susan Baird says

Correction: The title 'Pharmacy Technician' is not legally protected until July 2011. Ms McAulay - if not a registered pharmacy technician - can call herself a pharmacy technician until that date.

Susan Baird says

It's amazing what you can find on the interweb!
http://www.nhsnss.org/supplementary_pages/foi_detail.php?discref=366285
£429,710.39 per annum turnover. That's a lorra lorra cash!
I wonder how much profit the GP business makes out of that turnover? Oh - I forgot.
They don't make any profit. They sink the profits back into the NHS because they are famously uninterested in personal gain.
You people are truly deluded.

Susan Baird says

This gets better and better...
From the DDA (Dispensing Doctors - an English concept) website, I have just learned that:
"Twenty months ago the Cumbrae Medical Practice moved into wonderful new premises after 12 years of waiting and only last year the Health Board paid for their new dispensary shelves."
'PAID FOR THEIR SHELVES'?
This is a part of the GP business turning over nearly half a million quid a year. And the NHS is giving them handouts for shelves?
If I was the applicant - and I hope she reads this - I'd be doing an FoI to the health board to get some more info about this. It sounds *extremely* unusual.

Susan Baird says

Another interesting fact:
Jim Bryson claims that Dispensing Doctors in Scotland have 'the sword of damocles hanging over them' -
that being the threat of a pharmacist applying to open a pharmacy in their neighbourhood.
What he fails to mention is that many Dispensing Doctors - when their turnover starts creeping above the level required to sustain a pharmacy - simply recruit a pharmacist and apply to open a pharmacy themselves. Once they do this, no other pharmacy will be allowed to open in the neighbourhood, and everyone's happy.
According to the DDA, an application was made in 2007 by the same applicant, then subsequently withdrawn. If the dispensing doctors had an ounce of sense, they would have wasted no time in recruiting a pharmacist and 'converting' their dispensary to a pharmacy.
It appears that they didn't.
It sounds to me like they have only themselves to blame...

jim bryson says

I have no intention of entering into an online debate with Ms Baird but her comments require a brief reply.

GPs now rarely buy their own premises but are supplied with 'turn key' developments i.e. the doctors turn the key in the door and practise medicine from day one at no extra cost to them. Despite this policy the Cumbrae practice entered into a general agreement on payment of a significant portion of costs with Ayrshire and Arran in 2005. The supply of shelving was part of this general agreement.

Millport has been a two doctor practice from around 1956-2001. We took on a salaried doctor in 2001 and later in 2004 were able to afford a third partner. The provision of a third doctor has been expensive but I think is a significant improvement in the levels of care provided. It would have been cheaper to put in place barriers to access of GPs reducing appointments available. Perhaps this would have lead to an increase in the numbers of informal consultations we make, on the front street or in the ferry queue! I have even once been asked for an opinion on a patient's hernia in the VG stores.

We have lived on Cumbrae for 26 years. Our patients have been our neighbours friends and colleagues. There is a tremendous community spirit here. Ms Baird does not seem to have any understanding of this way of life. I am very sorry for her that she has such a low opinion of her fellow human beings. Ms Baird's assertion that the town are deluded in thinking we are reinvesting funds in patient services is a very sad reflection on her.

Sarahmarie O'Connor says

Primarily I would like to clarify what a Pharmacy is. A registered pharmacy is a premise entered in the register required to be kept under the Medicines Act 1968 by the Registrar of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. After having searched this register I have found no pharmacy to exist on the Island of Cumbrae. What currently exists in the doctor's surgery is a dispensary.
The medication which leaves a dispensing surgery is neither checked by a pharmacist nor a doctor. It is left to the dispensary staff to provide pharmaceutical care and advice. Whilst they are usually extremely helpful and pleasant, dispensary staff do not have the four year MPharm degree that a Pharmacist has. A dispensing doctor cannot sell medicines marked 'P' (Pharmacy only). Examples of this being more than 16 paracetamol, Nurofen Plus or Sudafed Decongestant.
All prescriptions leaving a pharmacy are checked by a qualified pharmacist. A pharmacy can sell a large range of medication, which is currently only available on Largs. A pharmacy offers a Minor Ailments Scheme. For people which are unaware as to what this is, it is explained by the NHS (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/06/26102829/1)as a new NHS service for people, including children, who don't pay prescription charges. It means that if your pharmacist thinks you need it then they can give you a medicine on the NHS without you having to pay for it. It will also save you making an appointment with your GP simply to get a prescription. You will be able to get advice and free treatment from your community pharmacist for minor illnesses and ailments including, but not limited to backache, constipation, coughs, diarrhoea, ear ache, haemorrhoids (piles), hay fever, headache, nasal congestion, pain, thrush, sore throat.
A report by the Self Care campaign stated that one in five GP appointments are taken by patients with common treatment ailments that could be self-managed with the assistance of a pharmacist's advice. Patients' insistence on seeing their GP for such problems as heartburn and indigestion or a headache is costing the NHS £2bn a year, according to the Self Care campaign. At the moment, islanders are unable to do so due to the lack of a pharmacy. A pharmacy cannot operate with a pharmacist alone. Dispensing and counter staff would have to be employed. The same number of prescriptions would have to be dispensed, so the same number of dispensing staff would be required. The pharmacy would then need to hire more people, as counter staff would also be required.
Whilst I understand that the doctors have decided to speed up their prescription services and to open for longer hours, is this not because they are scared that the people of Millport may realise that the pharmacy would be beneficial to their care? So they are trying to improve their services to counteract this.
Regarding the comments of people being worried about their healthcare service being put into private hands, neither are private. They are both contracted by the NHS in much the same way. A pharmacy or doctor's surgery is paid a dispensing fee by the NHS, which goes directly to the business. The phrase 'profiteering is the only motive behind these applications' is being thrown around. Surely the motive behind the Doctors creating this frenzy is the same.
June Allison, before you criticize the spelling or intelligence or others, might I politely point out to you that an application is approved not improved.
Having visited Millport on several occasions, I have found the people of Millport to be warm and inviting. However I find the people posting on this thread to be the complete opposite. You are completely ignoring the possible benefits that the pharmacy has to offer and are in fact launching a vendetta against this woman.

Jane Brown says

I was interested to read this story in the Glasgow Herald, and found this on Google.
I appreciate that the money generated by the dispensary is funding all these doctors, but I do wonder if it's the best use of this money - especially when there is no pharmacist on the island.
I'm no expert, but I also thought that GP income was really generous at the moment. In fact, the Sunday Herald did an expose about this a few weeks ago. Why do the doctors on Cumbrae need the profits from the dispensing AS WELL AS all the money they earn as normal GPs?
Anyway, I hope you all get this sorted.

Alan MacMillan says

I sometimes see the Scottish News via satellite TV.  Recently, I saw Jim Bryson on the news discussing this Dispensary v Pharmacy story.  I previously knew nothing about it.

Although I no longer live on the island, nor in Scotland for that matter, I believe that the dispensary should remain as it is at present.  Obviously, I have a vested interested in the Surgery/Dispensary as I still visit the island, and my parents are resident there too.

It occurs to me that the Lady Margaret is only a cottage hospital and, as such, cannot stock each and every medicine likely to be required; if the dispensary was closed down, this would mean that doctors would not have any access to medicines at short notice, without first contacting the pharmacist.  Further, if the pharmacy and shop is opened, there is of course, no guarantee that a pharmacist would even be resident on the island.  To this end, what is to happen on days when bad weather means the ferries are off? If there is no resident pharmacist, how could the Drs issue ‘out of hours’ emergency prescription without any access to the drug store themselves?  If a patient is left wanting because no pharmacist is on the island to dispense their emergency/out-of-hours prescription, this would leave patients suffering needlessly, or in extreme cases even patient death.  It is perhaps an extreme example, but this goes show that the current set-up where the Drs have unrestricted access to medicines 24 hours a day is beneficial for every resident and visitor on the island.

Has there been any resolve to the issue of late?

Thanks

Alan

June Allison says

Thanks Alan for that.   We totally agree.   The application was heard yesterday and we wait to hear the outcome.   However, whatever happens, someone will Appeal so it could be a long drawn out process.

All I can say is - watch this space.

Alan MacMillan says

Thanks June.                                                                                                 

I hope that yesterday’s meeting has a favourable outcome.

I just had a thought – can the doctor’s dispensary directly employ it’s very own pharmacist to oversee the activities of day to day running?  I know obviously it would cost a lot to employ a pharmacist, but at least, there would still be the same amount of money (albeit less the pharmacist’s salary) coming into the surgery from prescriptions to fund the work of third GP.

Although the above suggestion is not quite as good as the current set-up, it would at least be a decent compromise so that the Surgery can still keep money from the dispensary’s prescription turnover; plus the dispensary facility can remain where it is within the Garrison so the doctors still have access to the drug store if needing emergency items.

If the chemist-shop goes ahead, the island stands to lose out significantly.

Alan