For the last 12 months NHS Grampian has been undertaking a review of six dispensing practices: Auchenblae, Gardenstown, Portlethen, Rhynie, Skene and Udny Station practices.

The recommendations of the Review Group, made for individual practices, will be presented to the Board of NHS Grampian for consideration on Thursday 6 July 2017.

For Skene Medical Group in Westhill they state:

“The Review Group concluded that as there is a community pharmacy co-located with the medical practice and the fact that there are pharmacists within the surrounding areas that there are no individual patients or a qualifying class of patients who will have serious difficulty in obtaining from a pharmacist any drugs, medicines or appliances other than scheduled drugs required for treatment. The Group therefore recommends that Skene Medical Practice is no longer required to dispense from the practice.”

The first part of the review process consisted of a 90 day public consultation which ran from 4 July until 1 October 2016.

The report said responses showed that 65.7% of respondents would “not have a serious difficulty” in getting their dispensed medicines from a community pharmacy.

For Frequently Asked Questions, click FAQ dispensing review public FINAL 23.6.17.