Prescription charge price hike harms patients, says RPS
Published: 4 April 2024
This news story was published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Responding to the news that prescription charges in England will rise from £9.65 per item to £9.90 from 1 May 2024, and the 12-month Prescription Prepayment Certificate will also increase from £111.60 to £114.50, Tase Oputu, Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in England, said:
“Amid an ongoing cost of living crisis, the rise in prescription charges in England will hit working people on low incomes the hardest.
“Every day pharmacists are asked by patients who are unable to afford all the items in their prescription which ones they could ‘do without’. Patients shouldn’t have to make choices which involve rationing their medicines. No one should face a financial barrier to getting medicines which a health professional has prescribed as necessary.
“The consequences of the relentless rise in prescription charges are well-known. If you can’t afford your medicines, your condition can worsen which leads to poor health, lost productivity and increases the risk of hospital admission, piling pressure on the NHS.
“Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. If they were free in England too then no one would have to worry about payment decisions affecting their health.
“In a general election year, I hope that political parties can commit to properly reviewing this complex and unjust system. It is high time this stealth tax was abolished.”
A recent survey of pharmacists by RPS and the Pharmacists’ Defence Association showed that more than one-third of pharmacists (35%) said they have seen an increase in patients declining prescriptions in the past 12 months.
The vast majority of respondents (97%) have seen cases where patients decline some of the medicines on a prescription owing to cost, one-quarter (26%) of whom said they saw this often.
Further reading
Prescription charges are one of the key issues in our general election manifesto. Find out how you can support the campaign at www.rpharms.com/manifesto.
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