PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
LONG-TERM CONDITIONS AND PRESCRIPTION CHARGES (27 June 2017)

That this House is aware that people with long-term conditions in England, such as heart disease, cystic fibrosis or multiple sclerosis still have to pay prescription charges unlike their counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; notes that the medical exemption list of conditions that qualify people for free prescriptions in England today was compiled in 1968 and is based on the medical understandings and technology available nearly 50 years ago, with the exception of cancer, which is unique in having been added to the list in 2009; is deeply concerned by a recent Prescription Charges Coalition survey of 4,264 people with long-term conditions who have to pay for prescriptions which found that one-third of respondents did not collect a prescription due to the cost, while others skipped or reduced their recommended doses, with serious impacts on respondents' health resulting in additional treatment and time off work; recognises that the financial benefits of extending the medical exemption list to people with long-term conditions is likely to exceed the cost, which for 2015-16 would have been less than 0.5 per cent of the NHS budget, because of significant savings to be made for both the NHS wider economy if emergency admissions are avoided and work days and productivity are not lost; and urges the Government, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the medical exemption list, to review the list with a view to adding all long-term conditions in line with the Gilmore Report of 2009 on the Prescription Charges Review.

Sponsored by:
Melanie Onn (Labour)