Government should cap prescription charges now, says Citizens Advice
18th July 2006National charity Citizens Advice is urging the government to cap prescription charges in line with proposals set out in today's House of Commons' Health Committee's report on NHS charges.
Citizens Advice health policy officer Liz Phelps commented:
"This highly critical report ought to jolt the Government into long-overdue action on prescription charges. To date there has been very little progress in tackling the problems we identified in our 2001 report Unhealthy charges, which showed how health charges are preventing people on lower incomes and in poor health from getting the healthcare they need. Three quarters of a million people go without the prescriptions they need because they simply can't afford the cost.
"We particularly welcome the Committee's call for immediate action to make prescriptions more affordable by introducing a new monthly pre-payment certificate costing £6.65 - the price of one prescription - for an unlimited number of prescriptions a month. This would solve many of the worst problems of affordability at a stroke, and would be entirely consistent with the Government's wider strategy to tackle the links between poverty and ill health.
"The government has said it wants to ensure that no-one is deterred from obtaining any necessary medication on financial grounds - now it has a chance to prove that it is serious about achieving this goal."
Last updated: February 22, 2007