Prescription charges in England to be reviewed
Flat-rate no exemption charge possible |
Prescription charges in England are to be subject to a review during this Parliamentary session, the Government announced last week.
In its response (PDF 130K) to the Health Select Committee’s report
on NHS charges (PJ, 22 July, p92), the Government said: “The
time is now right for a wider review of the current arrangements for
prescription
charges. Accordingly, ministers have asked officials in the Department
of Health to undertake a review of the current exemptions for prescription
charges and to put forward options to them that would be expenditure-neutral
for the NHS. The Government will report the outcome of this review to
Parliament before the 2007 summer recess.”
The review will look at options to revise the list of medical exemptions
to prescription charges, introduce a flat-rate prescription charge with
no exemptions or base exemptions solely on income. The Department of
Health will also commission qualitative and quantitative research on
public attitudes to health charges, the extent to which charges affect
health and the use of health services and the extend to which charges
reduce “frivolous” demand.
Rob Darracott, director of corporate and strategic development at the
Royal Pharmaceutical Society, commented: “It has long been the
Society’s view that there should be no financial barrier to the
use of prescribed medicines, and that implies a major reform of the existing
charging system in a way which could be shown to have little or no deterrent
on use. The health service in Wales has already changed its approach
to charging and the proposed review of exemptions in England is a step
in the right
direction.”
The Government rejected a number of the Health Select Committee’s
recommendations, however, including introducing reference pricing, using
a limited NHS formulary of medicines and introducing a monthly prescription
prepayment certificate (PPC).
Instead, systems at the NHS Business Services Authority will be amended
so that PPCs can be purchased by monthly direct debit from 1 July 2007.
This will mean that 12-month PPCs will be available for a monthly charge
of £7.95. In addition, a three-month certificate will replace the
four-month certificate. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
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