Prescription Charges Coalition submits evidence to Health Select Committee Inquiry

The Prescription Charges Coalition has submitted written evidence to the Health Select Committee Inquiry into Public Expenditure on Health and Social Care.

The terms of reference for the inquiry include consideration of:

• The possible funding options for the NHS for the long term, including international comparisons
• To what extent is it a realistic option to merge NHS and social care eligibility and funding as set out in the Barker Review

Our evidence:

• Welcomes the Barker Commission's recommendation for a review of prescription charges in England
  
• Calls on the Government to consider the health, economic and societal evidence for extending to all long-term conditions the current medical exemptions for prescription charges
• Highlights that the system for exemptions has developed in a piecemeal way and that medical exemption criteria is outdated, having remained largely unchanged since 1968
• Draws on Prescription Charges Coalition research and individual experiences, which show that many people with long-term conditions are not collecting their medication or are rationing it because of the cost and are experiencing worse health and, in some cases, hospitalisation as a result
• Concludes that any review of prescription charges needs to take account of the potential costs and consequences of the policy and not only what may be raised by charges.