Backlash as NHS prescription charge in England rises to almost £10
NHS prescriptions will rise to alnmost £10 in England – SolStock/E+
The cost of an NHS prescription will increase to nearly £10 from Wednesday, rising from £9.65 to £9.90 per item in England.
The 12-month NHS prescription prepayment certificate – which covers all NHS prescriptions for a set price – will increase from £111.60 to £114.50.
Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society said prescription charges in England should be scrapped.
Tase Oputu, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society chairman, said: “This is a dark day for patients. Amid the cost of living crisis, the rise in prescription charges will hit working people on low incomes the hardest.
“The relentless annual increase in the prescription charge is making medicines unaffordable for many. This is totally unacceptable. Every day pharmacists are asked by patients who are unable to afford all the items in their prescription which ones they can ‘do without’.
“No one should face a financial barrier to getting the medicines they need to keep them well. Prescription charges should be scrapped in England, as they have been in the rest of the UK.”
‘Shameful neglect of working people’
Nick Kaye, the chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, said: “To allow the prescription charge to rise to this level is a shameful neglect of working people on low fixed incomes, who are not exempt.
“Many people already choose not to collect some or all their prescription medicines because of cost, with potentially dire health consequences. This is a tax on the working poor that deepens the cost of living crisis for them.”
Prescriptions are free for certain groups of people including children, the over-60s, pregnant women, people who are on certain benefits and people with certain medical conditions.
But the Prescription Charges Coalition, an alliance of more than 50 organisations, has called for an urgent review of the prescription charges exemption list.
It said the exemption list has remained relatively unchanged for the last 50 years and neglected to include many life-altering conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, cystic fibrosis, HIV, and asthma, raising concerns that people would be forced to skip their medication because of the spiralling costs.
‘Freeze the charge in 2025’
One patient with Parkinson’s disease said her financial situation was “dire” as a result of living with the condition. Wendy Tombs, from Shropshire, said: “The prescription price rise is just another nail in the coffin for people living with Parkinson’s. The way prices keep going up, I don’t know how much longer I can last.”
The 59-year-old has received a grant from charity Parkinson’s UK to cover the cost of her prescription prepayment certificate.
Laura Cockram, head of campaigns at Parkinson’s UK, who also chairs the Prescription Charges Coalition, said: “The NHS prescription charge price increase has struck fear into people living with long-term health conditions such as Parkinson’s.
“There is limited financial support that charities can offer to offset government shortcomings. That’s why we’re calling on the Government to freeze the charge in 2025 and commit to urgently reviewing the prescription charge exemption list.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.
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