Time for change: Impact of prescription charges on people with asthma in England

“There have been a few times where I have had to skip my inhaler because I have not been able to afford it. I can't understand why my brother gets his diabetes medication for free but I have to pay for mine despite being hospitalised numerous times because of my asthma?” Asthma UK Facebook post

There is nothing as frightening as not being able to breathe, yet this is the reality for someone in the UK every eight minutes as they are admitted to hospital for an asthma attack.

Asthma affects 1 in 11 people in the UK and tragically kills around 1,200 every year – that’s three people every day. Those living with this long-term condition often need to take several medicines every day to stay well. Asthma often affects people over their whole lifetime – from childhood to old age.

Despite being a complex condition, we know that when people are supported to self-manage their asthma there is significant improvement in their medicine adherence, asthma control and quality of life. Better self-management may result in fewer GP appointments, thus also reducing the 70,000 asthma emergency admissions every year in the UK and saving the NHS money.

While we know the NHS faces difficult times, it is unacceptable that 35% of people with asthma receive only the very basic elements of asthma management. Paying for medicines is a real issue, with 64% of people with asthma saying that the charges impact their finances. 

Now is the time

The costs associated with asthma are increasing globally. The UK alone spends in excess of £1 billion in direct healthcare expenditure on the condition. 85% of asthma patients are managed exclusively in primary care, with asthma estimated to account for around 2–3% of GP consultations. Asthma is also estimated to cost around £52m in GP consultations. This comes at a time when GPs are under significant pressure, thus affecting patients and impacting on the wider NHS.

Over the years, prescription charges have risen at levels higher than inflation and now represent a significant expense for people with asthma.

This year sees the 50th anniversary of the list of conditions exempt from paying for prescriptions.
Many conditions that people now live with for years either did not exist when the exemption criteria was created, or had such a short life expectancy that it was thought unnecessary to include them. Despite great medical advances in healthcare, the NHS’s medical exemption criteria for prescription charges has barely changed since its introduction. This level of progress is unacceptable and it’s time for a change.

How will this impact people with asthma?

In our recent annual asthma survey, nearly two thirds  of people with asthma told us that the cost of paying for their prescription had an impact on them. For some this means the cost of prescriptions prevents them from taking their medicines, forces them to take them in lower doses than prescribed or makes them choose between emergency inhalers and those that prevent future symptoms and attacks. These sacrifices put people with asthma at greater risk of a potentially life-threatening asthma attack. 

A flexible and fairer approach to prescription charges for people with asthma will benefit those who have been stung by rises in prescription charges in recent years and are struggling to pay for vital medication.

Join the campaign today by signing this petition to call on the Government to urgently reform the prescription charge exemption criteria in England.

Derry Begho, External Affairs and Stakeholder Officer, Asthma UK

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