Prescription charges to rise by 20p in England

[davieG]

The cost of prescription charges in England will rise by 20p to £7.85 from 1 April, the government has announced.

In other parts of the UK, prescriptions are free.

The British Medical Association has previously said the current system is "unfair" and wants prescription charges to be scrapped in England.

Those exempt from charges in England include children under 16, income-related benefit claimants and pregnant women.

Free prescriptions were introduced in Wales in 2007, Northern Ireland in 2010 and Scotland in 2011.

The health minister Lord Howe said: "The government is investing more than £12.5bn of extra money in the NHS and we are on course to save £5bn over this financial year, all of which will be re-directed into front-line care.

"In England, around 90% of prescription items are dispensed free."

The government said they had frozen the price of prescription pre-payment certificates for a further year. This means anyone who needs 14 or more prescription items in a year can get all the prescriptions they need for an average cost of £2 per week.

Lord Howe added: "We have also increased the optical voucher values by 1% to help eligible patients continue to get access to glasses and contact lenses."

[MooseBreath]

Bad news for all the sick cvnts

[Webbo]

Hope they use the money to pay someone to answer the phone when you ring for an appointment.

[Fox92]

Government should be looking at other ways instead of rising prices, especially of essentials, all the time... I'd go for no government, the greedy people.

[Finnegan]

Eh, not the worst thing in the world. I'd rather that than stealth taxes on fizzy drinks or fatty foods.

I have one to two prescriptions a month, I think they're a bit expensive, but an extra fourty pence won't kill me.

[Zingari]

I ask my brother in Scotland to go to the doctor and feign the same symptoms as I've got and then he posts me the medicine .

[Ford Super Sunday]

Eh, not the worst thing in the world. I'd rather that than stealth taxes on fizzy drinks or fatty foods.

I have one to two prescriptions a month, I think they're a bit expensive, but an extra fourty pence won't kill me.

And when you think of the actual price you'd pay for most medication if it was private, it would make you beg for the prescription charge.

[Finnegan]

And when you think of the actual price you'd pay for most medication if it was private, it would make you beg for the prescription charge.

Yeah definitely. Cost me twice as much to get an over the counter equivalent of my most regular scrip and it's not even half the strength.

[Zingari]

Yeah definitely. Cost me twice as much to get an over the counter equivalent of my most regular scrip and it's not even half the strength.

Period pains and PMT can be so difficult to live with.

I can always tell by your posts when you're suffering badly with them.