A TEESSIDE MP has backed calls for a pharmacy to be built in a Middlesbrough supermarket.

Redcar MP Vera Baird is supporting shoppers and staff at Asda, in South Bank, who back the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) stance on competition among pharmacists.

The OFT says that deregulation would mean more chemists, longer opening hours, better service, lower prices and less bureaucracy.

For the past few weeks, shoppers visiting the store have been signing a petition calling for deregulation.

It reads: "I call on the Government to implement the Office of Fair Trading's recommendation to allow Asda to open a pharmacy here in South Bank."

About 1,000 shoppers have signed the petition, which has been collected by Mrs Baird.

She said: "The petition appears to represent the wishes of a large group of local people.

"However, applications to open up chemist shops are dealt with by the local NHS Primary Care Trust, which must take into account the potential effects that the new outlet could have on other pharmacies in the area.

"It is important the people of South Bank have easy and convenient access to the services of a local pharmacist for advice and guidance as well as the dispensing of NHS prescriptions.

"The primary care trust will need to consider this issue very carefully."

The cost of over-the-counter medicines was halved in May 2001 after a High Court judge lifted a long-standing law which held the retail price at a fixed level.