The Prescription Charges Coalition is a group of nearly 40 organisations campaigning to end unfair prescription charges for people with long-term medical conditions.

Over 5,000 people have told us about the impact that prescription charges are having on their working lives, read our 2014 report, Paying the Price: Prescription Charges and Employment here

Read our campaign blog for all the latest updates.


You can add your voice by signing our petition here.

If you would like to make a comment or suggestion about the campaign or can add your support, please get in touch here.
"I could not afford the prescribed medication for anxiety, so thought I'd try and go without, ended up having panic attacks and losing my job"

"I have to put my family first before I can afford my 3 lots of medication a month.  I have 3 young children to feed"

"Last year, I nearly died after a severe asthma attack and I'm worried that it will happen all over again and I can't afford my Prescription Prepayment Certificate at the moment"

"Rheumatoid arthritis is for life.  A chronic disease with no cure. The quality of my life is dependent on a cocktail of 10 different drugs. With them, I can almost live a normal life, without them, I would be a burden on society, needing constant long term care at a huge cost to the state"

35% of those who had paid for each prescription item had not collected  medication because of the cost.
Three quarters of this group said their health had got worse as a result.
10% reported that they had been admitted to hospital as a direct consequence of not taking their medicine as prescribed.
Paying the Price research

Research by Rethink Mental Illness showed that 38% of people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have had to choose between paying household bills and paying prescription charges.

Research for Citizens Advice found that, in 2007, 800,000 people in England failed to collect a prescription item because of the cost involved.