A GOVERNMENT move to allow many more pharmacies to open, including internetonly ones, was met with concern from small chemists yesterday.

The proposed overhaul of prescription rules, expected to be enacted next year, would lead to the approval of internet and mail order pharmacies.

It would also allow for many more 24-hour pharmacies and outlets run by the big supermarket chains, which the Government believes would be an important service to the consumer.

The move has been backed by the big supermarkets and pharmacy chains, who want to move further towards deregulation.

Rosie Winterton, the Health Minister, yesterday sought to reassure small chemist shops that they had “a very bright future” and this was not a step towards total deregulation.

But independent pharmacies and those in rural areas gave warning that the plan could put them out of business, causing hardship to the elderly and infirm who cannot reach the big out-of-town superstores.

John D’Arcy, the chief executive of the National Pharmaceutical Association, which represents small community pharmacies, said he was also concerned about the review of the new legislation, planned in 2006.

He said he suspected it would be used simply as the timing for the next phase of deregulation, rather than as an appraisal of whether yesterday’s compromise plans had worked.

“It’s a critical time for pharmacies and I think we want more reassurance that this isn’t simply a step on the way to deregulation,” he said.

“The opening of new pharmacies under the new exemptions could serve to suck business away from existing pharmacies. If this happens, existing pharmacies may be forced into reducing the level of services on offer.”

Under the plans, chemists opening in out-of-town shopping centres, or for more than 100 hours a week, will find it much easier to get a licence and more licences will be available to pharmacists opening in the largest of the new one-stop primary care centres.

Some pharmacies already allow customers to order or buy medicines online. But under the current rules they must also have a “bricks and mortar” shop before they can do this.

Under these latest proposals, licences will be available for the first time to those opening internet-only and mail order pharmacies.

The Department of Health said that there would be strict rules to ensure that internet-only pharmacies provided a professional service.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which represents pharmacists on NHS matters, said online pharmacies would have to be monitored closely. “There will have to be constraints on how medicines are delivered,” said Sue Sharpe, its chief executive.

The changes come after last year’s report from the Office of Fair Trading, which called for the sector to be deregulated. At the moment, anyone interested in opening a pharmacy and dispensing NHS prescriptions must apply to the local primary care organisation for a contract.

This process is aimed at ensuring that there is a good spread of outlets around the country and pharmacies are not just located in profitable areas.

But it also means that some people are refused contracts if a pharmacy already exists in the local area.

Boots, which now operates about 1,300 in-store pharmacies, said that it had identified at least a further 50 stores where a new pharmacy could be opened immediately after the deregulation of licences.

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