HUNDREDS of south Monmouthshire patients may be barred from picking up prescribed drugs at their GP's surgery following an "illogical" decision by Gwent Health Authority.

Much of the area south of the A48 road has been redesignated as urban instead of rural, for the purposes of prescribing medicines.

That means people living in the area - which includes the villages of Mathern, Crick and Pwllmeyric, and Leechpool, near Portskewett - will not be able to get the drugs they are prescribed by their GP at Portskewett's Mount Pleasant branch surgery dispensed there. They must instead seek out a dispensing chemist's shop, which may mean a journey into Caldicot or Chepstow.

Division of areas into urban and rural for the purpose of prescribing is intended to strike a commercial balance between dispensing GPs and chemists.

But the ruling has angered Mount Pleasant GPs, one of whom has warned the surgery may struggle to survive. Senior practice partner Dr Paul Hawkins said medicines have been dispensed at the surgery since before the NHS started, and the decision has been taken without regard to patients' needs.

"It is ridiculous and seems to be against natural justice," he said. "We don't have a direct right of appeal as GPs, though Gwent Local Medical Committee is appealing against the decision to the assembly, and patients cannot appeal, either. "There's no benefit to patients, in fact, many will be worse off because they will have to go elsewhere to get their medicines.

"There are some isolated communities here, and it will mean a journey by car, if patients have one, or a bus trip. But services are very patchy and for sick patients it is not ideal." Mount Pleasant practice has around 5,800 patients. Its main surgery is in Chepstow. Around 500 patients could be affected.

"This sort of change threatens the existence of the branch surgery," said Dr Hawkins. "We may have to cut down on, or lose, the dispensing side.

"If we lose it, there are staffing implications be-cause we would then have staff there on their own, and that is a safety issue."

Monmouth AM David Davies has written to Health Minister Jane Hutt, urging her to reverse the decision.

"It is a completely illogical move to redesignate this area as urban, and totally unacceptable that elderly people should be made to roam the countryside for their medication," he said.

PICTURED: Talking to the manager Pat Reid, at the dispensary at the Mount Pleasant Practice are, from left, Dr Paul Hawkins, Councillor Graham Down and AM David Davies