NHS prescriptions to rise 30p to £9.65 in April despite the ‘tax on health’ being frozen last year
Now even your PILLS will cost more! NHS prescriptions will rise by 30p from April to £9.65 – despite the ‘tax on health’ being frozen last year due to the cost of living crisis
The cost of an NHS prescription will rise to £9.65 this year, the government announced today.
From April 1, patients in England will have to pay an extra £30 to collect their medication from a pharmacy.
Campaigners have long called the fee that patients in England have to pay to secure certain drugs such as warfarin or asthma inhalers an ‘unfair tax on health’.
England is the only country in the UK still suing, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland dropped charges more than a decade ago.
Prescription costs were frozen at £9.35 per item last April to ‘ease pressure on cost of living’ – this was the first time the government had not imposed an annual increase in 12 years.
From 1 April, patients in England will have to pay an extra 30 pence to collect their medication from a pharmacy
But in a statement tonight, the Department of Health and Social Care said it had applied an inflation rate of 3.21 percent.
The cost of prepayment certificates, prescription wigs and fabric supports will also be increased in line with the rate of inflation.
Currently, people who don’t qualify for free medicines can get a Prepayment Prepayment Certificate (PPC), which costs £108.10 for a year.
However, this will add up to £111.60 per annum.
There are few pay exemptions for patients in England, including those aged 16-18 who are in full-time education or patients once they turn 60.
Medications such as birth control are almost always free as well.
It comes as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) warned last month that current costs do not reflect current times.
Experts and campaigners have long scorned the price hike, which they say runs counter to the NHS’s public plans and could lead patients to skimp on essential medicines.
An RPS survey last month also found that half of pharmacists had seen an increase in the number of patients asking them which prescription they “can do without” in the past six months.
One in two pharmacists also saw an increase in the number of people not collecting their prescription, while two in three pharmacists reported an increase in requests for cheaper, over-the-counter substitutes for the drug they were prescribed.
Each year in England, approximately £600 million in revenue is generated from prescription charges for the provision of NHS services.