Proposals to give free prescriptions to people in England with long-term conditions have been put on hold due to financial pressures on the NHS.
Health minister Simon Burns said a decision on prescription charges and exemptions cannot be made before the spending review due in the autumn.
Plans for expanding eligibility for free prescriptions were first announced by Gordon Brown in 2008.
All charges have been scrapped in Wales and are being phased out in Scotland.
In England, prescription charges for cancer patients have already been dropped.
Current exemptions :
* A permanent fistula, such as colostomy
* Some patients with hypoadrenalism
* Diabetes insipidus or other forms of hypopituitarism
* Diabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet alone
* Hypoparathyroidism
* Myasthenia gravis
* Myxoedema
* Epilepsy requiring continuous therapy
* Continuing physical disability which means the person can’t go out without the help of another person
Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, was tasked with considering which patient groups should be exempt from charges and how the changes should be implemented.
In a report first presented to ministers in November 2009, he said patients should be exempt if they have a long-term health condition that will persist for a period of at least six months.
It means the three-year exemption would include people with common conditions, such as asthma, arthritis and high blood pressure, and eligibility would be determined by doctors.
Prof Gilmore estimated the move would cost £430m a year.
But he proposed phasing in the changes over a three-year period, to help spread the cost.
His review concluded that the cost of the annual prescription pre?payment certificate, which patients with chronic conditions can buy to help them manage the cost of prescriptions, should slowly be reduced.
‘Outdated’
The current list of exemptions is “outdated and arbitrary”, said Prof Gilmore.
He added that it was disappointing that his review was not published or commented on by the previous government when the financial climate was more favourable.
“I believe it still represents a useful way forward for exempting patients with long-term conditions from prescription charges.
“Furthermore, the report outlines a way in which exemptions could be phased in the fairest way possible when the financial landscape allows it.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said they want people with long-term conditions to have more control over their health needs.
“This is why we are focusing on prevention and the reform of long-term care as a whole to give patients better access to treatments that are personalised and effective for them as individuals.”
He added: “We know the NHS faces many challenges and therefore any decisions on future changes to the system of prescription charges and exemptions will be dependent on our future financial settlements.”
Neil Churchill, chair of the Prescription Charges Coalition and chief executive of Asthma UK, urged the government to outline how they intend to act on Prof Gilmore’s report.
“People with long-term conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, depression, heart disease, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s and spina bifida will obviously be very disappointed to hear that a timetable to abolish prescription charges has not yet been set.”
Betty McBride, director of policy and communications, at the British Heart Foundation, said the report set out a roadmap for the government to phase out charges for people with long-term conditions without burdening the NHS with unaffordable extra costs.
She added: “It’s vital that heart patients continue to take prescribed medication to keep them healthy.
“This is even more important in the current financial climate as preventative action avoids more costly medical treatment and hospital stays.
“We look forward to seeing ministerial action on this point in the autumn spending review so heart patients in England can stop facing financial worries and simply focus on getting well.”
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October 16th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
The Scottish government is to confirm it will abolish prescription charges next April, despite huge funding pressures ahead.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon will tell the SNP conference in Perth that the sick should not have to pay for “Labour’s economic mess”.
Prescription charges in Scotland have been gradually cut from the previous level of almost £7.
Ms Sturgeon will also commit to protecting Scottish NHS spending.
Her move comes ahead of the UK government’s Spending Review on Wednesday, which is expected to signal tough cuts to Holyrood’s budget next year.
Ms Sturgeon’s decision to stick to the SNP’s original plan on doing away with prescription charges has come at a time when some are questioning whether such universal benefits can really be paid for.
Proposals to give free prescriptions to people in England with long-term conditions were put on hold earlier this year due to financial pressures on the NHS.
All charges have been scrapped in Wales, and were abolished in Northern Ireland in April.
But Ms Sturgeon will tell the conference that the move will benefit 600,000 people on low incomes and thousands with long-term health problems.
“Some have argued that, in this financial climate, we should not go ahead with our plans to abolish prescription charges,” she will tell delegates.
“Times are tight and I believe, and this government believes, the last people who should be paying the price of Labour’s economic mess are the sick.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11555811
March 2nd, 2011 at 9:19 pm
MSPs have voted to scrap NHS prescription charges in Scotland, a key SNP pledge in the 2007 elections.
The Scottish government won the approval of Holyrood’s health committee to remove the current £3 charge.
A last-ditch Conservative and Lib Dem move to block the plan failed.
The price paid by patients for prescription medicine has been reduced each year since 2008 and the final vote will see charges removed in April.
Labour supports the plan but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats believe the cash could be better spent in other areas.
Scottish government health minister Shona Robison said lifting the charge would reduce the long-term cost to the health service and would no longer put people off going to see their doctor.
Wales and Northern Ireland have already removed NHS prescription charges, which cost £7.20 per item in England.
The Scottish government has played down the risk of people in England travelling across the border to claim free prescriptions.
April 2nd, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Scottish patients can collect free prescriptions from today – leaving England as the only country in the UK still charging for them.
English patients will be charged £7.40 for every item prescribed by a doctor – an increase of 20p – but Scotland today joins Wales and Northern Ireland in abolishing the charges.
The move means that English patients are effectively subsiding free drugs for those living elsewhere in the UK.
Doctors and charities claim the charges are ‘absurd’ and could potentially cost lives as poorer people may be discouraged from getting vital drugs.
It is also further evidence of a medical apartheid in Britain which sees patients in the devolved nations benefiting from higher spending on healthcare per head, even though they pay less tax.
The elderly in Scotland are entitled to a weekly allowance to go towards care home costs or other services while those in England are forced to pay, unless they have assets totalling less than £23,000.
Scottish pensioners also receive free eye tests while those in England pay £19 a time.
Ministers claim that it is not possible for England to abolish the charges because it would leave the NHS with debts of £450million a year.
But Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association Council, said: ‘The Government should not be increasing prescription charges; it should be following the lead set by the three other nations in the UK and making plans to abolish them.
‘The bureaucracy needed to administer prescription charges is cumbersome, many of the exemptions are confusing and unfair.
‘Patients with disabling long-term conditions still have to pay them despite a recent report recommending they be phased out.
‘Most importantly, the principle of charging for prescriptions runs counter to the founding principle of an NHS that is free at the point of use.’
Neil Churchill, chief executive of Asthma UK, said: ‘Scotland’s decision makes the rise in prescription charges for people in England a bitter pill to swallow.
‘For people in England with long-term conditions like asthma, this increase is unfair and potentially life-threatening for those who cannot afford vital medicines.’
The Department of Health said 90 per cent of prescription items were free. Many people do not have to pay, including schoolchildren, pensioners and the unemployed.
When the NHS was established in 1948, all prescriptions were free. Charging was introduced three years later to pay for defence spending.