There’s the rub... NHS hands out suncream worth £5m

SUN cream costing Scottish taxpayers nearly £5 million has been handed out free of charge over the last three years.

Thousands of Scots each year are picking up suntan lotion at no cost thanks to the SNP’s free prescription policy.

The Scottish health service handed out 58,000 sunscreen prescriptions last year at a cost of £1.67 million to the taxpayer.

The Tories seized on the figures to demand that the Scottish Government review its free prescriptions policy.

And they warned that such a large number of prescriptions made it inevitable that some people were getting their suntan lotion paid for before jetting off on holiday.

But the Scottish Government pointed out that sunscreen prescriptions were rising at a faster rate in England, where they have to be paid for, so it had nothing to do with free prescriptions.

According to official statistics, the cost of prescription sunscreen in Scotland has risen to almost £5 million over the last three years.

The number of prescriptions has also gone up, from 48,000 three years ago to 58,000 last year.

Sunscreen is available on prescription for those with a clinical need for it.

It is usually given to those with sensitive skin conditions, those at risk of skin cancer or patients with other medical conditions making them particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of sunlight.

But the handing out of such a large number of prescriptions – more than 150 every single day of the year in Scotland alone – has raised questions about the policy itself.

The Scottish Conservatives said, while skin cancer is an increasing challenge to health chiefs, this didn’t mean the taxpayer should pay for protection when people go on holiday.

The party has long called for the Scottish Government to end its practice of giving out free prescriptions to those who can well afford it.

Public health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘As always, there will be instances where someone’s medical condition warrants being prescribed sunscreen on the NHS.

‘However, people will be alarmed that giving out free bottles of suntan lotion has cost the taxpayer nearly £5 million since 2014.

‘That means it will undoubtedly be the case that people are walking into pharmacies ahead of an expensive holiday and charging their sunscreen bill to the NHS.

‘That’s extremely unfair on the majority who pay for theirs, not to mention how that cash could be better spent across the NHS.

‘This is another example of why we need to look again at prescription charging.

‘It’s wrong that people who can well afford and are quite happy to pay are being subsidised by the public purse.’

Mr Briggs claimed that ending free prescriptions for those who could afford to pay for them would free up tens of millions of pounds for the NHS, which could then be spent on frontline nursing and easing staffing concerns in wards across the country.

But a spokesman for the Scottish Government said: ‘This is a boomerang attack from the Scottish Tories who seem unaware that prescriptions for sunscreen have increased at almost double the rate in Tory-run NHS England than in Scotland. Clearly the increase has nothing to do with whether or not prescriptions are free.

‘Items like sunscreen are only prescribed for people with specific conditions – such as skin cancer patients who have skin photosensitivity as a result of radiotherapy, and people with certain genetic conditions.

‘Let’s not forget that the Tories want to scrap free prescriptions and return to the old system whereby, for instance, cancer patients could be charged for access to medicine.

‘It was Theresa May who famously said the Tories are often seen as the ‘nasty party’ – and with comments like this, it’s not hard to see why.’

‘That cash could be better spent’