The Inequalities in Health Alliance is a coalition of more than 250 organisations, convened by the RCP, who campaign for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities. This blog post from the Pharmacists’ Defence Association is part of a series by member organisations. Alison Jones, director of policy at the PDA writes about the impact of the cost of living crisis on affordability of medicines.
As a UK- wide organisation the members of the PDA see the difference between Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland where prescription charges have been abolished and, England where the NHS continues to charge for medicines to be dispensed after a health professional has identified the patient requires them.
The cost of living crisis has made the link between poor health and wider determinants of health, such as how much money a person has, clearer than ever. The PDA recently undertook a survey of pharmacists in England, along with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, with worrying results about the experience over the last twelve months:
- 90% of respondents said they had seen patients decline all a prescription due to cost; 9% said they saw this often.
- 97% said that they had seen patients decline some of the medicines on a prescription due to cost; with 26% saying they say this often.
- 35% said their experience was patients declining prescriptions had increased in the last year.
We know that pharmaceutical care has a positive impact on patients’, allowing them to manage or recover from poor health, but only if they access their essential medicine in the doses and frequency prescribed. The impact of patients not accessing their medicines risks their condition getting worse and can potentially lead to a hospital admission. Without action, we risk further entrenching existing health inequalities and placing further avoidable demand on our health and care services.
As member of the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA) the PDA supports the call made by over 250 organisations for a comprehensive cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities. Health inequality cannot only be a matter for the DHSC or the NHS because so many of the factors that cause illness, such as affordability of medicines, that sit beyond the remit of the healthcare service and our members.
Our members do all they can to inform patients and advise about NHS England schemes to reduce prescription costs, such as pre-payment. However, if you are an individual is struggling with day-to-day essentials such as feeding your family or heating your home, you are unlikely to have the cashflow to meet the upfront costs of a certificate, and committing to pay in instalments via direct debit is unlikely to be your priority if you can’t be sure you’ll make your rent, or whether other payments can be made.
While this is principally a health matter, there are strong economic arguments not to charge for prescriptions too if health conditions are prolonged, there is a potential impact on the nation’s GDP when working people are economically inactive due to otherwise preventable ill health or manageable long-term conditions.
The PDA believe that patients in England should have the same access to medicines as those in the other UK nations, where the affordability of prescriptions for the patient is not a factor.
We are part of the Prescription Charges Coalition led by charities representing patients with specific long-term conditions that want to have the list of exemption from charges updated. That exemption list is decades out of date and patients with life-altering conditions like Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, arthritis, asthma, cystic fibrosis, motor neurone disease and HIV who require multiple medications a day to stay well, are not on the list.
In the absence of a government prepared to take that action, the Prescription Charges Coalition have a current initiative to call for the £9.65 charge to at least be frozen for 2024 and 2025.
Read more about our campaign.
The PDA is the largest pharmacists’ membership organisation and the only trade union exclusively for pharmacists in the United Kingdom and crown dependencies. The PDA is a member of the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA), convened by the RCP, who are campaigning for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities.
This piece is part of a series of guest blog posts by members of the Inequalities in Health Alliance.
Alison Jones
Director of policy, Pharmacists' Defence Association
