DOCTORS across the country have reacted with relief after “potentially catastrophic” White Paper reforms were rejected by the Government.

Under the proposals, which were put forward for consultation this spring, rural practices would have seen their right to dispense withdrawn - along with vital funding.

Clive West, manager at the Central Dales Practice in Hawes, North Yorkshire, said the plans would have crippled many rural practices.

He said: “It’s such a relief the plans were defeated, but I just can’t believe they were put forward in the first place.”

Under the current arrangements, GP surgeries in communities not large enough to support a pharmacy receive dispensing fees for the services they provide, which they use to subsidise the costs of care provision.

Under the proposals, surgeries with pharmacies nearby would have had their dispensing rights removed, which Mr West said would have forced a reduction in staff numbers.

He said: “Because of the way funding for GP practices is organised, ie on the basis of population, rural surgeries tend to lose out because they are serving a smaller number of people scattered over large areas.

“Their costs are also proportionally higher, because of the need for home visits and branch surgeries.

“If these proposals had gone ahead we would have had to cut our clinical staff in half, losing two of our four doctors and one of our two nurses.

“It would have been disastrous.”

Dr David Baker, CEO of the Dispensing Doctors’ Association which campaigned against the proposals, said: “At long last dispensing doctors and their staff can enjoy a Christmas without this worry hanging over their heads.

“This is a victory for common sense, and the government ministers must be commended for coming to this decision and showing that they have listened to the patients.

Coun John Blackie, who represents the Upper Dales on North Yorkshire County Council as well as chairing the authority’s health scrutiny group, said: “This is wonderful news for doctors and patients throughout the country, but especially those in rural areas like North Yorkshire.

“This was the greatest threat to rural medical services we have seen in the past 25 years, and it is a great relief that the plans have been defeated.”