Raising age for free prescription a ‘thoughtless false economy’

PROPOSALS to increase the age that people become entitled to free prescriptions has been branded a “thoughtless” false economy by a coalition of charities.

The Prescription Charges Coalition warned that short-term gains from making people pay for prescriptions for longer will actually cost the NHS more money in the longer term. It comes as ministers consider proposals to rise the age at which people are entitled to free prescriptions.

At present, people aged 60 and over can get their prescriptions for free on the NHS in England.

But officials are consulting on whether or not this should be increased to be aligned with the state pension age, at the moment this is age 66 with more rises projected for the future.

The consultation, which closes on September 2, states that people aged 60 to 65 can remain in work and be “economically active and more able to meet the cost of their prescriptions”.

But the Coalition, an alliance of more than 20 organisations representing a number of patient groups, said that the price hike was a “false economy”.

It added that the proposals could disproportionately affect those with degenerative health conditions, multiple health conditions, those from diverse communities with lower life expectancies and those living in areas where average pay is lower than other regions.

And Parkinson’s UK, which is part of the coalition, said the proportion of patients with the condition would rise from 14% to 25% under the proposed changes.

Raising the prescription exemption age to 66, rather than keeping it at 60, will cost the NHS an additional £8.5 million from avoidable hospital admissions from Parkinson’s patients alone, it said.

Laura Cockram, head of policy and campaigns at Parkinson’s UK and chairwoman of the Prescription Charges Coalition, said: “The proposal to increase the age at which people become exempt from prescription charges from 60 to 66 in line with state pension age is a thoughtless move.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The age people get free prescriptions in England has not changed since 1974 for women and 1995 for men, so we are consulting on aligning the upper age exemption from prescription charges with the state pension age.”