The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7223 p669
9 November 2002

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Countryside Agency: Vital Villages (more)

Cornish pharmacy wins grant for collection and delivery service

A community pharmacy in rural Cornwall has won a £9,000 grant from the Countryside Agency to help it run a prescription collection and delivery service in and around the village of St Just at the westerly tip of the county.

David Ramsay, of Ramsay Pharmacy, said the idea for the collection and delivery service had been prompted by a woman who had gone without her treatment for four days in January this year because the weather had been so bad that she was unable to go to the pharmacy to collect her tablets. A van was bought in March and a part-time driver taken on. Shortly after this, Mr Ramsay became aware of the Countryside Agency's three-year £48m Vital Villages scheme.

By the end of July, the Countryside Agency decided that it could not help with the cost of buying the delivery van because it had been bought before the application for a grant had been made, but that it could contribute half of the full-year running cost of the scheme. These costs include the driver's wages, vehicle costs and the cost of advertising and promoting the service. The only requirement is that the scheme should continue after the first year with no further Countryside Agency support.

"The service has been extremely well taken on board by the public in general, Mr Ramsay said.

In an extension to the prescription collection and delivery service, people are also able to ask for pharmacy medicines to be delivered, and paid for on delivery, provided they have telephoned and spoken to Mr Ramsay personally.