The Statement/Petition

For Treatment ”free at the point of delivery” – end prescription charges in all the UK!

 

The government has said, in response to critics of its NHS ‘reforms’, that treatment will remain “free at the point of need”. In fact treatment is not free for some people, even if they are seriously ill*. Not only are prescription charges still in place, and rising, but some patients with life threatening illnesses such as cancer have to pay for drugs, including chemotherapy (if not given in hospital). Such treatment often involves a cocktail of different drugs – a prescription charge for each one – so the whole treatment can be very expensive.

 

A recent report by the Citizens Advice Bureau estimated that as many as 800,000 people have not been getting the drugs prescribed to them because they cannot afford all of them. This includes people with cancer, asthma and HIV, which are not on the list of exemptions from charges (a list which dates from 1968).

 

In Wales and Scotland the administrations there have decided to end prescription charges because they discriminate against many poor people who do not qualify for free treatment.

 

We believe that it is unjust for patients in England and Northern Ireland to have to pay, when prescription charges are being phased out in Wales and Scotland. Moreover, so long as they remain in place then it cannot be said that treatment is “free at the point of delivery”. We are therefore calling on the government to end prescription charges throughout the UK.

 

* They are only automatically free for children and people over 60.