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Letters to the Editor
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Prescription charges
Charge should be abolished in Scotland
From Mr M. Allan
When the Bill to abolish prescription charges in Scotland was defeated
in the Scottish Parliament in January 2006, the Scottish Executive issued
a consultation document with the aim of reviewing charges and exemptions.
A report on
the consultation has now been published (PJ, 31 March, p360).
The Scottish Health Campaigns Network, which represents communities in
many areas of Scotland with various health issues, carefully studied
the options outlined in the document and submitted its response to the
health committee at the Scottish Parliament. It concluded that making
alterations to the list of medical exemptions would create fresh anomalies
and that comparisons with methods of charging for prescriptions in other
countries with differing systems of taxation and welfare benefits were
irrelevant. It decided, therefore, that the only fair conclusion was
to follow the example shown by the Welsh Assembly and to phase out prescription
charges entirely.
Examination of the published responses by many organisations and individuals,
together with the results from a Mori poll, confirm that its conclusion
was valid. It has always been the case that the prescription levy, currently £6.85
per item, bears no relation to the cost of the prescribed medicine.
Malcolm Allan
Scottish Health Campaigns Network
Glasgow
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal