Prescription charge system 'complete mess'
17 July 2006

Prescription charges pose a threat to the health of people with asthma and other conditions in England, says a Health Select Committee report.

The committee today (18 July) published its recommendations to Government for changes to the current prescription charges system, and it is hoped people with asthma will benefit.

The Health Select Committee condemned the current system as 'a complete mess' and urged the Government to undertake a full-scale review of charges.

It stated the system was developed 'without any comprehensive, underlying principles' causing it to be 'full of anomalies'. The system is criticised as being confusing, with the list of exemptions not having been updated since 1968. Given the vast improvements in medicine since that time the committee saw this as unacceptable.

For many of the 5.2 million people with asthma in the UK daily medicine is essential, yet the current charges system means that these people are not entitled to free prescriptions, unlike other people with long-term conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy.

People with asthma can be hard hit by the charges. A poll by Asthma UK revealed more than 50% of people with asthma have difficulties paying for their asthma medicines. Under-treatment of the condition can lead to irreversible lung damage, lower quality of life, and an increase in both the frequency of asthma attacks and the burden on the NHS. On average 1,400 people die from asthma every year and 90% of these deaths are preventable.

Catherine Tunnicliffe is one of the 2.6 million people with severe asthma who are affected by the current prescription charging system. ‘I sometimes find it difficult to afford my prescriptions,’ she explained. ‘Often I don’t collect all the drugs I need, or I wait or borrow. Yet I will die without them!’

‘Asthma UK is delighted that this report highlights the anomalies in the current system,’ commented Donna Covey, Asthma UK’s Chief Executive. ‘We welcome the committee’s call for a full-scale review of the system and its recommendation that the Government look at alternatives, such as abolishing the prescription charge.

‘We look forward to the Government’s response to this report and urge them to take this opportunity to radically reform a system that is inequitable, unfair and unsustainable,’ she concluded.