Please support our Prescription Promise campaign

Hi all,

Time is running out for the Government to implement free prescriptions for people with long-term conditions, including asthma, in England.

Join us and help show Gordon Brown that he can't just make empty promises without acting on them.

If Brown doesn’t pass new legislation within the next few weeks, free prescriptions for people with long-term conditions will fail to become a reality before the election – and may not become a reality at all.


It’s the eleventh hour for our campaign, so we are organising a stunt on Monday 1 February at 11am.

Please check the news page at asthma.org.uk/news first thing on Monday morning for further details of how to get involved.

*Support our Twitter campaign*

In the meantime, to spread awareness about the campaign we are asking all our Twitter followers to insert the hashtag #prescriptionpromise in their tweets alongside a message to Gordon Brown, and asking your friends to retweet you!

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/asthmauk

*Email your MP*

Also, if you haven’t already done so, please email your MP, to ask them to put pressure on Gordon Brown to implement free prescriptions for people in England with long-term conditions, by signing Early Day Motion 306 and speaking to the key-decision makers. A third of all MPs in England have already signed this motion, which is great news – but we want to see more stepping up to the plate!

Click here to email your MP:

tinyurl.com/yeqzdnr

Thanks

Luke

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or how about phoning Mr Brown. (excerpt from email from AUK)

Join us to give Gordon Brown a literal ‘wake-up call’ on prescription charges

It’s the eleventh hour for free prescriptions to become a reality, so the plan is to give Gordon Brown a wake-up phone call between 11am and 12pm on Monday 1 February 2010.

If we all do this simultaneously, we will show Gordon Brown that we mean business and will not allow this policy to fall through the cracks. Not all of our calls will get through, but our attempts will be logged and noted by the Government.

It’s also vital that you let us know you intend to take part in the wake-up call, so that we can let the media and others know how important this issue is to you. Please tell us you’re taking part by emailing [e-mail], including your name, location and if you would consider speaking to your local media on this issue, please include a daytime telephone number.

The wake-up call

* The number to reach the Number 10 office is 020 7276 1234

* We will all ring at the same time – between 11am and 12pm

* You will be put through to the main switchboard – please can you stick broadly to the following script:

Hi, please can I speak to Mr Brown? (answer is likely to be that he is not available).

Please can you pass him a message that he must implement the prescription charge promise he made in September 2008 to people with long-term conditions.

Mr Brown must take urgent action to make free prescriptions a reality, before it’s too late.

Thank you.

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Are there any campaigns going in Scotland to get the same?

I know our prescription charges have been reduced up here but I still dont think we should be paying at all when others dont

There are plans to scrap prescription charges here but i cant see it passing through as there is no way we can afford it. Doubt we will afford the lowered charges too long

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just wanted to say i fully support this!

i currently have 7 asthma medications at home, 5 being taken daily + emergency supplies of things like Tamiflu. I also take 2 types of antihistamine daily at a very high dose for urticaria- its all part of my immune/allergy system.

I try to buy prepayment certificates, but being on incapacity benefit i dont always have the cash at the right times to pay for one- i cant always work out what is most economical as if i play it right sometimes i only need 1 prescription in 3 months, other times i can be getting 3 prescriptions in a week.

It really starts to take the biscuit, however, when you are forced to pay the full £7.20 for 2 1mg tablets of prednisalone after either my GP miscalculated how many i needed to finish my course or the pharmacist put the wrong number in the box. With my asthma being as fragile as it is i cant afford to stop my course 4 days earlier than planned, so i had to pay out the £7.20 as i dont have the £28.25 to pay for a prepayment right now.

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this is a fab idea. I will sign up this weekend as i haven't had chance to yet and will contact my mp who has been brilliant in the past with all stuff i have asked him about. I hope he can help join the tide with this if he hasn't already! I will probably also try and take advantage of the phone call option too as that may just further demonstrate our point!

I am one of the lucky ones in a way. Although i take over 23 repeat prescriptions to my chemist every week- ten days i do not have to pay for them as i have one of the conditions that gets free prescriptions. This is a total sham tho as the condition which is exempt requires me to take at most 4 pills or 3 injections a day. My asthma on the other hand requires over 40 tablets and many other inhaled and injectable medications-it is totally ridiculous and this bill should have been passed a long time ago when it was promised in 2008. Anyways i will be behind it come on guys lets show them we can be bullied off this topic!

Lotsa lv kitkat Xx

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this is a crazy situation, we have to pay to stay alive, yet the NHS will pay to help you stop killing yourself by smoking, what's the difference we want to live as well, and it's not self inflicted.

I did mention it back at one of the consultation events to Kevin Holton from the DH, and money was an issue, but in reality the amount it would cost is small, and also as were were saying this is to help us stay alive, those on stage 1 of the BTS guidelines don't require daily medications, they could be excluded from the exemption, as the guy who was with me was correctly pointing out, loads of people are given the blue inhaler as a trial and labelled as asthmatics when they're not and never need to rely on that. Maybe we should let those who wish to smoke and kill themselves to pay for it through the tax on tobacco?

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took me a while to find a posting on a blog by someone who put the whole prescription pricing thing into perspective. The person does write on here so may recognise it, but I'll keep the identity a secret.

"" A couple of salbutamol inhalers, at base NHS cost (subsidised, with no pharmacy/dispensing fees etc added on) is about £6. Standard-dose beclomethasone (steroid inhaler) for a month is approximately £8; a salmetarol (LABA) inhaler, £30; and a 28-pack of montelukast tablets comes up at about £27. Which gives you a grand total of about £71. Bit of a difference to your £28. And, if you're on a combination inhaler - Symbicort or Seretide - you may be surprised to discover that a month's treatment will cost anything up to £63 per inhaler. Imagine having to pay the full whack every month?""

Are we really that bad off in that context? yes it adds up, but we get a flat fee per item and are really quite fortunate in that respect.

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I agree with you there, if you buy a years prepayment it's 28.4p a day....and if you can't afford it then the government do help! I think we are very lucky.

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its about time they got all this sorted

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As woody-som says, please call Gordon Brown on 020 7276 1234 at 11am! Suggested script below:

Hi, please can I speak to Mr Brown? (answer is likely to be that he is not available). Please can you pass him a message that he must implement the prescription charge promise he made in September 2008 to people with long-term conditions. Mr Brown must take urgent action to make free prescriptions a reality, before it’s too late. Thank you.

Please encourage friends and family to support the wake-up call too.

It’s also vital that you let us know you intend to take part in the wake-up call, so that we can let the media and others know how important this issue is to you. Email [e-mail] with your name and location and if you would consider speaking to your local media on this issue, please include a daytime telephone number.

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hi,

i tried ringing him at 11.20, his message box was full so i went onto number10.gov.uk and sent him the same request in an email,

hope it works,

george xx