Prescription Charges - time to abolish them

Swindon TUC is calling for the abolition of prescription charges. We have produced a statement (enclosed) which we are asking people to add their name to, so that we can develop a campaign in conjunction with other organisations. Here Swindon TUC Secretary Martin Wicks, explains some of the background including move to end prescription charges in Wales and Scotland.

The Citizens Advice Bureau, together with organisations such as the Macmillan cancer charity are calling for the scrapping of prescription charges. They report that patients who need long term medication are endangering their health by not taking the drugs they need because they cannot afford to pay the prescription charges. They estimate that as many as 800,000 have not been getting the drugs prescribed for them. This group includes people with cancer, asthma and HIV, which are not on the list of exemptions from charges. The list apparently dates from 1968.

The government, fending off criticism about their reforms has often said that the NHS will continue to provide treatment “free at the point of need”. Yet not all treatment is free at the point of delivery. Unless you have direct or family experience, you may not know that patients suffering from a life threatening illness such as cancer have to pay for some of their treatment. For instance, if you receive chemotherapy intravenously in hospital you don’t have to pay. If the chemotherapy is in tablet form, you have to pay for it. Usually a cocktail of drugs is taken in conjunction with the chemotherapy. For these the patient has to pay £7.10 per item. Patients can buy a pre-payment card for £100 a year which cuts the overall cost, but, of course, not everybody can afford to stump up the money up front. That people with life-threatening illnesses have to pay for their treatment is a scandal which should be brought into the open.

According to the government 88% of prescriptions are free but most of those are for children and for pensioners. In 2001 the government admitted that in the age group 18-59, 80% had to pay. According to the Observer they have declined to update these figures.

In July 2006 the Parliamentary Health Select Committee called on the government to review prescription charges. They promised to produce this in July 2007. When this deadline passed, it was announced that it would prepare a paper for the autumn of 2007; another deadline missed. Recently, in the House of Commons Kevin Barron, chair of the Health Select Committee, ventured to ask when the long delayed paper would be ready. He was told it should be “some time this summer”. Read more....

Thanks goes to gpy1973 for bringing this to my attention in the Witanagemot Yahoo Group

More information on Abolish Prescription Charges here.


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