By Nick Triggle BBC News health reporter

Less than a third of pharmacies are offering repeat prescribing

The aim was that patients should have been able to pick up repeat prescriptions for a year without seeing their GP from December 2004.

But that is possible only in areas which piloted the service - less than a third of the country - after delays in negotiating a pharmacy contract.

The government said repeat prescribing would now be available from April 1.

The target, part of the government's choice strategy paper Building on the Best, in December 2003, was one of the key targets highlighted on the Department of Health's website.

Doctors have also raised concerns that another target requiring the NHS to offer patients a choice of chemists from which to pick up their repeat prescriptions by the end of 2007 may also be missed.

The repeat prescription target system needs to be more efficient, targets aren't the only way to achieve this Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley

Dr Jim Kennedy, prescribing spokesman for the Royal College of GPs, said he feared the government's IT programme was running behind schedule.

"Repeat prescribing and choice of pharmacies are running into difficulties.

"In some ways it is understandable, but what we must do is make sure we get the service right for patients as quickly as possible.

"These reforms are important."

A spokesman for NHS Employers, which represents health service managers and chaired the negotiations between pharmacies and the government on the pharmacy contract, said it was likely to take a while before all pharmacies were able to offer repeat prescribing even after April 1.

He said primary care trusts were "working hard" to make sure it was available, but added: "The take-up of this policy will gradually increase across the country."

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley criticised the government for missing its own target and said they should be doing more to support pharmacies.

Duplication

"The repeat prescription system needs to be more efficient - targets aren't the only way to achieve this," he said.

"We need a system that enables pharmacists to have access to GPs' prescription records. This would save pharmacists from duplicating work."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Paul Burstow said: "People living with long-term conditions want to fit the NHS around their lives, not be forced to fit their lives around the services they need.

"Ministers need to urgently ensure that innovative solutions like this are not tied up and delayed by red tape."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "When we published Building on the Best we expected to conclude negotiations and start implementing the new contract from December 2004.

"Concluding the negotiations took longer than foreseen."

But she said the 2007 choice deadline was still on target.

The pharmacy contract also includes provisions to allow pharmacists to carry out basic health checks and take blood pressures in a bid to relieve the pressure on GPs.