Pharmacy minister Earl Howe has distanced himself from fellow Tory MP Phillip Lee's claims that pharmacists are being paid to count Smarties, hailing pharmacists as "highly skilled and trusted health professionals".

Earl Howe said pharmacists played a vital role in advising patients how to use medicines and get the best out of them, responding to the comments made a fortnight ago by practising GP Dr Lee.

Dr Lee argued that taxpayers were subsidising pharmacists to "check the box and then sign" and said he couldn't understand why all GP practices couldn't be dispensing as it was "just like counting Smarties, you don't have to be terribly intellectual to do it".

"Pharmacists are often the first point of call for many people and... they can help to reduce pressure on busy GP practices" Earl Howe, pharmacy minister	More on counting Smarties MP rebukes colleague's dispensing Smarties slur Pharmacy slams MP's 'counting Smarties' slur Jennifer Richardson: The biggest issue of 2012?       Smarties have the answer
	But Earl Howe told C+D yesterday that pharmacists were "highly skilled professionals who support patients on a wide range of issues". "Pharmacists are often the first point of call for many people and – by treating a wide range of minor injuries, ailments and illnesses – they can help to reduce pressure on busy GP practices," Lord Howe stressed.

"They are also accessible on the high street, in supermarkets and shopping centres providing an informal environment to discuss health-related matters."

GPs also dismissed their colleague's claim. The British Medical Association's General Practitioners' Committee (GPC) said Dr Lee's argument that GPs could save the NHS money by taking over dispensing was "fundamentally flawed".

"The idea that the NHS will make substantial savings as a consequence of subsuming the entire dispensing system into mainstream primary care is one that is fundamentally flawed," argued GPC clinical and prescribing committee chair Bill Beeby.

Dr Beeby questioned whether the proposals would result in real savings or improvements, stressing that the existing system promoted effective and co-operative working between GPs and pharmacists. "This enables patient safety to be maintained and achieves the best utilisation of the respective assets of surgeries and pharmacies," he said.

The comments were backed by the Dispensing Doctors' Association (DDA), who said reforming the dispensing doctor system was not on its agenda. "There are a lot more important things [to do] than throwing the furniture up in the air and seeing where it lands – the NHS is doing that anyway," argued DDA chief executive Matthew Isom.

"It's not just about doctors dispensing medicines – it would mean a huge change in the way the pharmacy system works in this country," he told C+D. "If Dr Lee wants that, he's got to persuade people in his own party and I don't think he'll have much success, really."