Prescription charge rises to £9.35 from 1st April

[helvella]

For anyone in England who is not entitled to "free" prescriptions, I suggest considering a prepayment certificate, if you are able to afford one. Not only are prescription charges rising, so too are PPC charges. So get one before the 1st of April!

Prescription charge rises to £9.35 from 1st April

February 24, 2021

In England, the NHS prescription charge will increase to £9.35 per prescription item from 1st April 2021.

Amendments to the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations have been laid before Parliament which will introduce changes for both the NHS prescription charge and prescription pre-payment certificates (PPCs).

The price of a three-month PPC will become £30.25 (an increase of 60 pence) and a 12-month PPC will be £108.10 (an increase of £2.20). PPCs offer savings for those needing four or more items in three months, or 12 or more items in a year.

Prescription charge type Current charge (up to 31st March 2021) New charge (1st April 2021 onwards)

Single charge (per prescription item) £9.15 £9.35

3-month PPC £29.65 £30.25

12-month PPC £105.90 £108.10

psnc.org.uk/our-news/prescr...

Apologies for poor formatting - follow the link for a more readable version.

[Bellabab]

This is utterly disgusting and one of the very worse things to do in our worse economic depression for 300 years. We should be decreasing or abolishing prescription costs and raising benefits; pensions and other ways of investing in our economy like better schools and hospitals. No increase in taxes and costs at all. Basic economics.

[fbirder in reply to Bellabab]

Note that it's only in England. The rest of the UK have realised that it costs far more in administration of prescription charges than it brings in.

Scotland, NI and Wales all think that you save money by making prescriptions free.

[helvella in reply to fbirder]

As I flicked through something in the past couple or so days, it was stated that prescription numbers rose in Scotland when prescription charges were removed, but not so in Wales. (NI - no idea.)

I think we could speculate at great length, and ultimately without much benefit, as to why that difference.

Also, the number of prescriptions actually paid for is a very small minority.

Seems particularly harsh for those who need extremely inexpensive medicines which are prescription-only to control access. After all, the argument is that access should be limited to those who need them for the safety of everyone else. Not that those who need them should end up bearing the cost of controlling access.