SCORES of local pharmacies could close if moves to deregulate the industry go ahead, according to campaigners.

The Office of Fair Trading is recommending the Government to abolish legislation restricting dispensing licences in a bid to free up the market.

But chemists fear competition from out-of-town supermarkets and GP surgeries could close community pharmacies - forcing patients to discuss health issues in a relatively public space such as a supermarket.

Morecambe Bay pharmaceutical committee chair Jeremy Aspden says deregulation could shut down 35 of 70 pharmacies across Morecambe Bay.

Because small pharmacies rely on prescription charges for up to 85 per cent of their income they are particularly vulnerable to competition, he says.

"High Street and community pharmacies would be devastated - there would be areas completely devoid of a pharmaceutical service and those left would be overcrowded and impersonal.

"How would you like to pick up a methadone prescription or ask for the morning-after pill in a supermarket? We are health care professionals not meat pie salesmen."

Brian Threlfall, committee secretary, predicts deregulation will see 'a migration of pharmacies into supermarkets or a cluster around surgeries'.

Others would struggle to remain viable, leaving neighbourhoods without a convenient community pharmacy, he says.

Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith says she has received hundreds of letters from pharmacists and their customers against the move.

"Traditionally, small pharmacists have always offered help and advice to customers who they have known personally. This move would increase competition and make it very difficult for them.

"Deregulation would be a mistake."