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27th February 2008
Prescription costs are barrier to health says
Citizens Advice
New research carried out by Ipsos MORI for national charity Citizens
Advice reveals that around 800,000 people failed to collect a
prescription last year in England because of the cost involved.
The charity warns that not being able to afford prescription charges
means many poorer people with chronic health problems are not getting
the treatment they need and are putting their health at risk.
Citizens Advice is calling on the Department of Health to stop stalling
and carry out the review of prescription charging in England, first
recommended by the Health Select Committee over 18 months ago. The
longer the government fails to look into the issue, says Citizens
Advice, the more people in England are going without prescriptions they
need. This latest figure shows there has been no improvement since 2001
when Ipsos MORI carried out a similar survey for the charity.
Citizens Advice adds that the situation will only get worse when the
Employment Support Allowance replaces Incapacity Benefit for new
claimants from October this year as this will result in more people on
low incomes and in poor health also losing automatic entitlement to free
prescriptions.
Citizens Advice Chief Executive David Harker said:
"We first raised this problem in 2001, yet seven years later the
number of people failing to cash a prescription because they can’t
afford it has remained unchanged."
"And although the Government says it recognises the links between
poverty and ill health, the Department of Health’s extraordinary delay
in starting the consulting process has resulted in hundreds of thousands
of people not being able to afford the treatments they need. Progress in
Wales and Scotland has raised the stakes. It is simply unacceptable that
people are still failing to collect prescriptions because they can’t
afford it. It is essential that there is now urgent action to finally
eliminate prescription poverty in England."
The Health Select Committee first recommended that a review be
undertaken in July 2006, but the Department took a further year before
announcing in July 2007 that it would consult on reform “in the autumn”.
Case studies
A CAB in Hampshire saw a man who was receiving long term medication. He
was on a low income with learning difficulties and unable to read. He
was told that he was exempt from charges but then received a
prescription penalty charge notice for £79.80 and then a final action
letter for £113.05. The man only had limited payment options but was
told he had to pay outstanding fines.
A CAB saw a single man who had been receiving Incapacity Benefit (IB)
for over 4 years. In the first two years he was eligible for free
prescriptions. After two years he was no longer entitled to free
prescriptions because his income exceeded the allowed excess of half the
current cost of a prescription, £3.43. His prescription cost was £13.70
per month and he was worried about the cost of the new medicines which
his doctor might prescribe.
A CAB in Hertfordshire saw a woman under 25 who was in receipt of
incapacity benefit and disability living allowance. She needed at least
two prescriptions per fortnight, but because of her age and
circumstances, she was not entitled to help with prescription costs. She
could not afford to pay for a pre-payment certificate in one go.
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