Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ANGER AS NHS PRESCRIPTIONS SHOOT UP TO £9
THE cost of a prescription in England is set to rise by 20p to £9 from this April.
It means charges for NHS medication have gone up by 26% since the Tories came to power in 2010.
Angry campaigners pointed out average earnings have only gone up by 16% during the same period.
Lloyd Tingley, chairman of the Prescription Charges Coalition, said: “Working-age people with long-term conditions simply can’t sustain this.
“Already, one in three people with long-term conditions do not collect all their essential medication due to cost, which leads to more ill-health.”
The cost of prescription prepayment certificates will stay the same.
Tony O’sullivan, chairman of Keep Our NHS Public, said: “We should only be paying once for our NHS from taxation – double charging people in need of treatment is regrettable.”
Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, added: “Our hospitals are racking up huge deficits, buildings are crumbling and now patients are paying the price for Tory financial mismanagement of the NHS.”
Prof Helen Stokes-lampard, head of the Royal College of GPS, described the charges as a “blunt tool”.
The Department of Health, headed by Matt Hancock, insisted: “Nine out of 10 prescriptions dispensed on the NHS in England are free. Existing exemptions will still protect the most vulnerable.”
There are no prescription charges for the rest of the UK.
THE NHS prides itself on being free to everyone, regardless of personal wealth.
The major exception to this principle is prescription charges.
These are set to rise yet again in April from £8.80 to £9. That amounts to a 26% increase since the Tories came to power in 2010.
Only patients in England will have to bear this additional cost. The Northern Ireland executive abolished prescription fees. It is time for England to do the same.
A third of patients with long-term conditions do not collect their medicines, as they cannot afford the price. But they often end up costing the NHS more when they fall seriously ill.
Free prescriptions would keep people out of hospital, in turn helping the NHS to save money.