Plans to bring a pharmacy to a Shropshire village could have a consequence for the creation of a new medical centre.

Councillor Nick Bardsley said there are concerns in his Baschurch division that a pharmacy would take funds away from the village’s Prescott Surgery as it is a dispensing practice.

And he said this loss of funds would impact patients and the village’s new medical centre off Milford Road, which was approved in 2014.

He said: “At the moment I would argue, and certainly the two parish councils would argue and believe, that Baschurch is very much a rural area and the existing GP’s practice has a dispensary which brings in quite a heavy income to support the practice.

“The plan to build a new medical centre in Baschurch to serve the expanding medical area would clearly be impacted if this substantial source of income from the existing practice was compromised with the creation of a competing pharmacy.”

Cllr Bardsley’s comments came as investigations by NHS England into the proposed pharmacy was discussed at Shropshire Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board  meeting [DEL THURSDAY, JULY 5].

He continued: “Probably in five years’ time Baschurch won’t be rural, but at the moment the majority of patients come from rural areas.

“It would be pretty damaging to medical services in this part of Shropshire if a rural pharmacy was set up.”

Dr Julian Povey, chairman of Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said a pharmacy could take away up to a third of the dispensing as patients living within a mile of a chemist cannot have their medications dispensed by their surgery.

He added: “For Baschurch this would have a big impact. It would impact patient services, but there are positives for patients from having pharmacies.”