Dandruff woe? NHS won’t help you shoulder the problem

DOCTORS are being told to stop giving out prescriptions for dandruff, cold sores, coughs and colds.

More than 3,000 products funded by the NHS will no longer be prescribed, under proposals to reduce the £650 million spent annually on drugs readily available in shops and pharmacies.

Under the plans, GPS will be told to stop routinely funding remedies for 36 conditions, including dandruff, cold sores, verrucas and insect bites, which can often be bought cheaper elsewhere. Packs of paracetamol sold for 50p in supermarkets can cost the NHS £34 when issued via prescription.

Officials said the measures would also free up millions of appointments currently occupied with prescribing such medicines. The proposals were announced as health chiefs also agreed to stop funding remedies including homoeopathy, herbal treatments, some painkillers and muscle-rub products on the grounds they do not work.

Officials said this would save more than £140m a year.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, said: “The NHS is one of the most efficient health services in the world but we want to make taxpayers’ money go further. The NHS should not pay for low value treatments and it’s right that we look at reducing prescriptions for medicines that patients can buy for a fraction of the price the NHS pays.”

Other conditions targeted include conjunctivitis, cradle cap, haemorrhoids, infant colic, diarrhoea, ear wax, indigestion, malaria prevention, minor burns and scalds, mouth ulcers, nappy rash and travel sickness.