The decision to reject an application for a pharmacy in an area with a dispensing GP has been overturned.

The National Appeal Panel upheld the appeal by the TLC Pharmacy Group for a pharmacy licence in Tarves, Aberdeenshire after it was declined by the local NHS board earlier this year.

Superintendent pharmacist James Semple said he was pleased by the decision to grant the application.

The reversal comes after a consultation by the Scottish Government on measures to strengthen the appeals process for community pharmacy contract applications.

The RPSGB voiced concerns last month that the consultation into control of entry was triggered by unhelpful dispensing GP campaigns against pharmacy bids.

 The National Appeal Panel said it recognised a community pharmacy would be more accessible than the GP surgery, which is only open 24 hours a week.

Mr Semple said: “We need to make it clear to GPs that they won’t close if they have to stop dispensing.

“GPs should put the interests of patients over the bit of income they have lost and pharmacists need to show their added value.”

Mr Semple added: “There really is a war going on up here and we have to fight.”

Haddo Medical Group GP Fiona Munroe said the surgery was concerned about implications a pharmacy may have for their three sites. Dr Munroe said: “We were invited to community council meetings to discuss implications about the differences in dispensing services offered by pharmacists and GPs.”

The local community council opposed the plans in a letter to NHS Grampian, citing adequate pharmacy provision in the area as a reason for its opposition.

An NHS Grampian spokesman said: “NHS Grampian, in its original consideration of the application, took the view that adequate pharmaceutical services were currently provided for the population of Tarves.

“However we note the National Appeal Panel has now approved the application from Mr Semple.”

How FOI helped secure success

Pharmacists are using the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) to identify areas with dispensing GPs that could be suitable for pharmacy openings.

James Semple (right) of TLC Pharmacy said he submitted an FOI request to NHS Grampian to identify high earning dispensing doctors in the area.

He found the Haddo Medical Group in Tarves earned £755,000 in a year from dispensing payments and used the information to support his bid.

He said: “There has been a big change in the past two years. The FOI Act has allowed pharmacists to be able to tell where dispensing doctors are dispensing more than they should.”

Mr Semple added: “Where their turnover is in excess of the amount required to run a pharmacy, then that means pharmacies can put in applications.”