VILLAGERS could be prevented from getting NHS-funded prescriptions from a pharmacy at their local health centre because of a 50-year-old law.

Residents in Bloxham, who live within a mile of the chemists at Godswell Lodge Surgery, have been told they will not be able to use it to get hold of prescriptions funded by the National Health Service.

However, in a move dubbed "an absolutely crazy state of affairs" people who live further away will be able to get hold of NHS prescriptions.

Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust has been forced to review provision in the area after a national chemist chain applied to open a branch in the village.

It has decided Bloxham is no longer classed as a rural area and insisted it qualifies as a small town - despite a population of just 2,500.

NHS guidelines do not allow doctors' pharmacies to compete with chemist shops and means only doctors in rural areas can dispense NHS-funded prescriptions.

The regulations were introduced 50 years ago to prevent doctors in towns and cities setting up pharmacies in competition with chemist shops.

Villagers, doctors, and councillors have joined Banbury MP Tony Baldry in condemning the move. Mr Baldry has written to Alan Johnson MP, the secretary of state for health.

He said: "There are times, under this Government, when I lose the will to live because I genuinely cannot believe the stupidity of certain administrative decisions within the NHS.

"The powers-that-be have decided that Bloxham is now an urban area, which will stop village residents having their medicines dispensed at the surgery they have used for many years.

"This is an absolutely crazy state of affairs."

It is not known which company is aiming to open a branch in the village or where it would be built.

Cllr Keith Mitchell, who represents Bloxham on Oxfordshire County Council, said: "The law dates back 50 years.

"It stipulates that only doctors in rural areas can dispense medicines. The law was introduced to avoid situations where town doctors could run pharmacies in competition with chemists' shops.

"By changing Bloxham's rural status to urban, the NHS can now force Bloxham's doctors to close their dispensary to village patients."

Mr Baldry said: "What is wrong with competition? The doctors' pharmacy is not a drain on NHS resources, and if villagers want to use the doctors' pharmacy, they should be able to.

"Of all the crazy decisions in recent years, this has to be one of the craziest, and with services at the Horton Hospital and post offices under threat, we have to ask what next?"

Doctors at the health centre have appealed against the ruling. However, they declined to comment on the matter until the result of the appeal is known.

The PCT said: "We recently carried out a classification of the Bloxham area following an application to open a pharmacy in the village.

"In accordance with the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2005, the PCT has determined that Bloxham should be classified as an urban area.

"An appeal against this decision has been formally made to the NHS Litigation Authority who will review the decision made by the PCT.

"If the litigation authority upholds the PCT decision, patients within a one-mile radius of the intersection of High Street/Church Street in Bloxham will no longer be able to get their prescriptions dispensed from the practice.

"Patients outside the one-mile radius will be able to continue getting their prescriptions dispensed from the practice."