More than 40 people attended a drop-in event to discuss concerns about changes to prescription ordering made by a Cockermouth surgery.

The meeting was organised by Healthwatch Cumbria and also included five GPs from Castlegate and Derwent Surgery and the practice manager.

It was called after more than 40 people contacted the independent organisation to raise concerns after the surgery, based at the community hospital, withdrew its third-party prescription ordering service in January.

A Healthwatch spokesman said people were concerned that the new system was not patient centred and particularly affected the most vulnerable, that there had been poor communication from the surgery about the reasons for change and and that patients preferred to use town centre pharmacies rather than the surgery's.

Some raised concerns about the challenges they faced accessing the surgery, the frustrations reported over accessing the prescription phone line and reluctance to use the IT process.

Concerns were raised about the relationship between the surgery and the pharmacy on the hospital site, and about a breakdown of trust and relationships.

The surgery apologised for not communicating more effectively and said the new process should help prescription review and reduce wastage, the spokesman said. It acknowledged the frustration caused by the phone line system.

The surgery said it would review and add to its list of vulnerable people to ensure they got additional support if needed. It also said it would review the process in the future, said HWC.

The revised system would be rolled out across the county, said the surgery.

The Healthwatch spokesman said: "We have agreed to find out more about the rationale/guidance for the revised process being rolled out."

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