CHEMISTS in County Durham have been selected to take part in a pilot scheme aimed at helping patients gain quicker and easier access to medicines.

The Durham Dales Primary Care Trust is one of 30 areas in the country to be chosen to take part in the dispensing programme, which attracted 120 applications from trusts nationwide.

The pilot scheme will allow patients to obtain a prescription from their GP, which they can then have dispensed in several instalments, rather than having to go back to their local surgery each time for a new prescription.

Pharmacists will also be encouraged to speak to patients to check their prescriptions still meet their needs, so that medication is not wasted.

The initiative will involve six Durham Dales GP practices and 14 community pharmacies working with the trust.

It is hoped that repeat dispensing will help reduce GPs' workloads, make it easier for patients to get their prescriptions, and improve the relationship between patients and their pharmacists.

Alex Sinclair, pharmaceutical advisor for Durham Dales Primary Care Trust, said: "This is an excellent opportunity for the Durham Dales PCT to demonstrate the advantages that repeat dispensing will offer to patient care.

"The project is due to start in the spring of 2003 and we hope that it will not only increase patient convenience, but it will reduce pressures on our GPs and cut waste.

"In the first few months it will be a small trial involving around 30 patients in each GP practice which will be extended to more patients in the area as systems are established."