£13M NHS BILL FOR SUNCREAM
As it’s revealed UK is 27th in world health league, millions wasted on prescriptions for toothpaste, Yakult and Calpol
THE NHS is spending millions on prescriptions for suncream and toothpaste, a damning analysis has found.
Some patients are even being given hangover tablets and Yakult yogurt drinks. Critics said it was ‘ludicrous’ that such items were being handed out when the NHS was rationing routine treatments.
It has prompted concern that patients are abusing the system by demanding prescriptions for household essentials which are cheaply available at their local chemist.
The figures came on the day that Britain was ranked only 27th in the world for health and wellness – below Slovenia, Spain and Portugal – and 111th out of 133 countries for obesity.
In 2014, the NHS handed out 404,500 prescriptions for suncream at a cost of £13million. Another 4.7million prescriptions for indigestion pills cost £29million, while 1.4million were written out for multi-vitamins, at £4.2million.
Other bathroom cabinet items routinely being prescribed by GPs include Calpol, Vaseline, Strepsils and toothpaste, according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Roger Goss of Patient Concern said: ‘This is ludicrous. Every week we hear of patients being denied another cancer treatment or refused cataracts while others are being prescribed toothpaste. Whoever is prescribing this or authorising it must have completely lost their mind.’
Doctors admit that some patients abuse the system and arrive at surgeries with shopping
lists of toiletries and remedies. But their contract states they must prescribe any medication they think is ‘necessary’, meaning patients can claim that most remedies are needed even if they are cheaply available from a chemist.
The NHS is facing a huge black hole in its finances, with chief executive Simon Stevens predicting that by 2020/21, there will be a gap of at least £8billion in its annual budget.
Only last month it stopped providing funding for 19 life-extending cancer treatments because there was not enough money to pay for all the patients who needed them.
The NHS has also been forced to ration many routine treatments which are consid- ered to be non-urgent, such as hip and knee replacements and cataract operations.
Dr Anita Sharma, a senior GP in Oldham, Greater Manchester, said patients come into her surgery every week wanting prescriptions for head lice shampoo, which can be bought for £5 from the chemist.
‘We need to take a different approach to prescribing,’ she said.
‘Primary care must focus on ensuring the use of the right medicine, for the right patient and at the right dose.
‘This does not mean a script for every ill. We certainly cannot afford to waste NHS money [on what] can be bought over the counter.’
Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The vast majority of hard-pressed families have to pay for their own everyday essentials, and taxpayers will be furious if others are gaming the system. We must tighten up the rules on these giveaways and give GPs more flexibility, ensuring that only those who really need them receive them.’
The Mail analysed figures from the HSCIC’s prescription cost analysis, an audit of all drugs handed out on the NHS by GPs, nurses and pharmacists.
In England, most patients are charged a fee of £8.20 for each prescription. But certain groups can get them for free, including the under-16s, the over-60s, pregnant women or new mothers and adults on benefits. Some patients eligible for free prescriptions have been swapping tips on how to get them for Calpol and Gaviscon on the MoneySavingExpert and Mumsnet websites.
And in 2012, a GP from Glasgow, Scotland, described how patients were coming into his surgery with ‘ shopping lists’ of items including nappy rash cream and moisturisers. Dr Richard Vautrey, of the British Medical Association’s GPs committee, said: ‘GPs have a duty to prescribe where there is clinical need.
‘What we don’t want to see is anyone abusing the system. The whole prescribing system needs to be looked at.’
The figures revealed that 1.1billion prescriptions were written in 2014 – more than 2,000 a minute and a rise of 3 per cent compared to the previous year.
A spokesman for NHS England said: ‘GPs are responsible for only issuing appropriate prescriptions to their patients, and these figures underline the importance of ensuring that’s what happens everywhere.’