Prescription charge consultation to start in autumn
Prescription charge exemptions are being reviewed |
Proposals on changes to the prescription charge system in England are to be announced in the autumn by the Department of Health.
In its response to a House of Commons Health
Committee report on NHS
charges last year the DoH promised to carry out a review of prescription
charges and to report the outcome to Parliament before the 2007 summer
recess (PJ, 28
October 2006, p507).
This week, the new Minister of State for Public Health, Dawn Primarolo,
told Parliament that there would be a public consultation in the autumn
to gather views on the proposals. She did not indicate what would be
in the consultation, but insisted that any changes to the system would
have to be cost-neutral to the NHS. Options that the DoH had under consideration
earlier this year included revising the list of conditions that qualify
for exemption, dropping all exemptions and basing exemption on income.
Prescription charges have been abolished in Wales and are under
review in Scotland (PJ, 31 March, p360).
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s policy (PDF 200K) is that
there should be no financial barrier to the use of prescribed medicines.
It
believes
that this can be achieved either by abolishing charges, as in Wales,
or by reforming the charges structure system so that it has little or
no deterrent effect on use.
Eileen Neilson, head of policy development at the Society, said: “The
Society has long been urging reform to the existing system of prescription
charges and exemptions in England. We consider the current system to
be illogical and unfair. … Our research found that charges do not
just deter the frivolous use of medicines.
“Much more importantly, they also deter the essential use of medicines
in people with chronic conditions who are on low incomes but not exempt
from prescription charges. Frivolous use of medicines should be dealt
with through measures to influence prescribing, not through prescription
charges.”
She added that the Society was working with the Welsh Assembly Government
to monitor the impact of the abolition of charges in Wales. In Scotland,
the Society would like to see effective implementation of a new policy
to waive prescription charges for people suffering from chronic medical
conditions. “We see the review of prescription charges in England
as an important step in the right direction,” Mrs Neilson said.
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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