Ask any politician how much a single prescription costs, and wait to hear them get it wrong.
But for millions of people the price of medicine is just as important as the price of bread and milk.
And at £9.35 per item, the sick and their families struggle to afford regular medication during a cost-of-living crisis.
Half of chemists in England experience customers asking which medicines they can do without because they can’t pay for everything the doctor ordered.
This week pharmacists called on the Government to scrap NHS prescription fees in England, calling them “an unfair tax on health which disadvantages working people on lower incomes”.
Despite being busy trampling on the nurses, ambulance workers and support staff, Health Secretary Steve Barclay found time to reject their plea out of hand.
His department says almost 89% of prescriptions are free for the over-60s and other qualifying groups at a cost to the NHS of £300million per year.
If it’s so expensive, why were the fees scrapped in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland years ago?
This is a political decree, not a financial decision.
Less than two years ago, the Tories considered ending free prescriptions for the over-60s, levelling up the qualifying age to 66 in line with pensions, and to 67 in 2026.
Faced with a pandemic they dropped this cruel idea – but what’s the betting they won’t revive it again?
Prescriptions once cost 10 shillings – 50p – for everything on the scrip. Today’s charges are exorbitant, a worry for young families and the less well-off.
Chancellor Hunt decides new cost levels in his Budget in four weeks’ time. Listening to pharmacists on the front line would save money in the end.
