Recession forcing people with asthma to skip vital medicines
24 June 2009

New research conducted by Asthma UK suggests that people with asthma are struggling to afford the medicines they need to stay well and out of hospital, and that this situation has been made even worse since the recession began.
 
Asthma UK’s poll of people with asthma reveals that more than a third (37%) of people with asthma are finding it harder to afford their prescriptions since the start of the recession, while a separate study by Dr Ellen Schafheutle of Manchester University has found that people with asthma are making dangerous decisions to stretch or skip doses of their inhaled medicines because they can’t afford to pay for them, with the majority saying they would not raise issues of cost and affordability with their GP.

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Inhaled steroids are an essential medicine that most people with asthma need to use in order to keep their asthma under good control. Across the whole of the UK, there are more than 73,000 emergency admissions to hospital for asthma every year, three quarters of which could be avoided if people’s asthma was better controlled, potentially saving the economy around £46 million.

Asthma UK’s research also reveals that a third of people with asthma in England have never heard of prescription Pre-Payment Certificates (PPCs), which can save a considerable amount of money. Official figures published in January 2009 for the first six months of the Scottish Government’s policy of reducing prescription charges (ahead of their abolition in 2011) showed a rise in the number of PPCs being purchased and a 25.9% rise in the amount of drugs dispensed using them, which suggests that those with long-term conditions may now be buying medicines they avoided taking before.

A coalition of 19 charities including Asthma UK launched the ‘Prescription Promise’ campaign (prescriptionpromise.org) on 1 April 2009, which is calling on the Government to honour the promise it made last year to abolish prescription charges for people with long-term conditions, and to do so before the next General Election. A review of how to implement this promise was due to report over the summer, but this has been delayed until the Autumn.

Neil Churchill, Chief Executive of Asthma UK, says: ‘We know that people with asthma who don’t take their preventer medicines as prescribed are more likely to end up in hospital and that three quarters of hospital admissions for asthma could be avoided through better asthma management. Reducing hospital admissions across the UK could help the NHS save around £46 million every year, which makes a compelling argument for implementing free prescriptions in England as soon as possible.’

Dr Mike Thomas, GP and Chief Medical Adviser to Asthma UK, says: ‘I know of numerous cases where people have stretched or stopped using their preventer medicines to try to reduce prescription charge costs. This is often because they notice the immediate effects of relievers more than the potent long-term effects of their preventers.

‘It seems illogical that people with some long-term conditions, like thyroid disease, receive free prescriptions, while those with conditions like asthma do not. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that GPs can do other than increase the number of inhalers on a prescription, which can encourage waste and is discouraged by primary care trusts.’