SCRAP Prescription Charges

Colin Fox Condemns Prescription Charge Rise

2006-03-15T14:33:00.000Z

Colin Fox MSP has today put down a question to the Scottish Parliament condemning the further 15 pence rise in prescription charges. Colin's bill to totally scrap the charges was disgracef ully voted down in the parliament despite the backing of the health committee and a broad range of professional organisations.

Daily Record

PRESCRIPTION FEES RISE ON THE CARDS

PRESCRIPTION charges are set to rise in Scotland.

It was announced yesterday that prices south of the Border would go up by 15p to £6.65 from April 1.

Scotland has kept rises in line with England for the past five years and sources said the policy would continue.

The Scottish increases are likely to be announced within days.

Prescription prepayment certificates will also be hit.

In England, they will go up to £34.65 for four months or £95.30 for 12 months.

A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said: "We will be making an announcement on prescription item charges shortly."

Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox introduced a Bill into the Scottish parliament earlier this year which would have ended prescription charges.

Health Minister Andy Kerr said that although nine out of 10 prescriptions are free, scrapping charges could cost up to £245million a year.

In January, MSPs voted against scrapping the charges. Instead, they backed plans for an overhaul of NHS drugs policy.

Colin Fox's Speech to the Parliament

2006-01-26T11:02:00.000Z

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): Today, I have great pleasure in introducing this stage 1 debate on the Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill. It is a proud moment for me and for the Scottish Socialist Party. I thank those MSPs, particularly in the Green party and the independent group, who were the original sponsors of the bill. I am grateful for the support of all my colleagues in the SSP and the SSP team in Parliament. I am also grateful for the support outside Parliament of the Scottish campaign to remove all prescription charges, whose members are in the public gallery today. I particularly thank David Cullum and Claire Menzies Smith from the non-Executive bills unit, whose efforts have been immense. I express my gratitude for the work of the clerking teams on the Health Committee and the Finance Committee in bringing those committees' reports on the bill before the Parliament. I am particularly pleased that my bill comes before members on the anniversary of Robert Burns's death. It is a significant day.

I am disappointed however that the speech that I prepared yesterday has had to be substantially rewritten in the light of this morning's announcement that the Scottish Executive has conceded many of the arguments that it previously used in the debate about the bill and has announced a raft of new proposals to go out to consultation. It appears to me that, with its new propositions, the Executive has conceded entirely two lines of argument. The first is that only the rich currently pay prescription charges; the second is that the £44.4 million income from prescription charges is vital for the funding of the national health service in Scotland.

In trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat this morning, the Executive has presented us with another rabbit—one that is half-cooked and inedible. In my view, the Executive has shown in its announcement disdain for the Parliament. The bill has been before the Parliament for nearly two and a half years and before the Health Committee for a year, but the Executive waited until just three hours before this debate started to come forward with its proposals. I think that that shows disdain for the Parliament and the Health Committee. In addition, as the sponsor of the bill, I did not get to see the Executive's report until two hours ago.

So what is in the report? I must say that it appears to me to be a proposal/consultation document that has been put together very quickly. It tries to replace one dog's dinner with another, with the ability-to-pay approach contradicted throughout. The Executive puts in question the continuing exemption of the over-60s, which it says is anomalous with its proposals. In effect, the Executive proposes to consult exactly the same people who were consulted on my bill and exactly the same people who were consulted on the Health Committee's proposals. The Executive gives with one hand and takes away with the other.

I will focus my remarks on the case for the abolition of prescription charges in principle. Martin Luther King was fond of borrowing a saying of the Scottish author, Thomas Carlyle:

"No lie can last forever."

King used that in the context of the civil rights struggle in America to highlight the way in which millions of African-Americans were denied equality under the law.

For me, prescription charges are a lie that will not last forever. They show that medical justice and equal access to health care are denied to people in Scotland today, irrespective of their class, background or income. The founding principle of the national health service was universal free health care, paid for out of people's taxes. The NHS's high ideals have been compromised by prescription charges.

The Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care told us at the Health Committee that prescription charges represented a co-payment contract between patients and the NHS. I have to say that there is no concept of co-payment in the founding principles of the NHS—that should be made clear. The Parliament has the opportunity today to make a profound and very welcome difference to the lives of the 2.5 million Scots who currently do not qualify for free prescriptions. That statistic alone should lay to rest any claims that members would like to make in this debate that the rich alone pay for prescriptions.

The bill concerns the kind of improvement that the people of Scotland wanted from the Parliament when they set it up. In the most recent test of public opinion, 82 per cent of Scots supported the abolition of prescription charges because they see that the charges deny poor people the medicines that they need. That conclusion is based not on sentiment but on hard facts and sound reason. The Wanless report, which was commissioned by Her Majesty's Treasury to consider all the available international evidence, concluded that every 10 per cent increase in health charges leads to a 3 per cent fall in the numbers taking up that care.

It is telling that, as the first part of its consultation, the Scottish Executive's review examined all the available international research literature. That review was completed seven months ago, yet the Executive still refuses to publish it. Why could that be? Could it possibly be because all the studies conclude that the charges act as a disincentive to those accessing health care and the Scottish Executive wants to avoid the conclusion that the Health Committee and others have drawn? The evidence from the National Consumer Council, Citizens Advice Scotland, the Social Market Foundation and the King's Fund is that the current system of prescription charges is a complete dog's dinner and lacks any basis in fairness or logic.

The bill that is before the Parliament today has the backing of the Health Committee. That committee heard not one piece of evidence backing the status quo. However, the Executive has rejected the committee's working conclusions. I have to say that the Executive gave a slap in the face to the committee system of this Parliament when it delivered its verdict. For the first time, it has rejected the positive recommendation of a lead committee.

The Health Committee recommended the bill because it accepts that the current system is an indefensible dog's dinner. Everyone over 60 is exempt because of their age, irrespective of income. Every pregnant woman, new mother and patient with diabetes, epilepsy or an underactive thyroid gets free prescriptions, regardless of income. At the same time, however, only some people on state benefits qualify for free prescriptions.

The reality is that the Queen gets free prescriptions while people on disability living allowance do not. Some 30 members of this Parliament get free prescriptions but people on incapacity benefit do not. J K Rowling, as a new mum, gets free prescriptions, but a low-paid woman worker in the Scottish Parliament must pay in full. That is the reality of the dog's dinner of a system that currently exists.

The Scottish Executive argues that, since 92 per cent of prescriptions go to people who are exempt, only the well-off pay. Unfortunately, however, that picture is simply not supported by the facts. Some 75 per cent of all prescriptions are repeat prescriptions, mostly for people over 60. The reality is that half the population of this country are not entitled to free prescriptions at the moment. That means that the exemption could be extended to 2.5 million people for a small sum of money. We might expect the Executive to say, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth," yet it looks the other way and decides that it does not want 100 per cent exemption, saying that it prefers to target the benefit. The Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care is nodding. He is quite right to nod. However, all the evidence shows that the system is about as effective at targeting as poor old Charlie Kennedy was when he tried to bowl those balls in that old people's home. It is precisely the abject failure of targeting that means that those who need the benefit the most—such as 300,000 people on disability living allowance, 219,000 people on incapacity benefit and 850,000 low-paid people—are left behind. That is the reality of targeting and it is why the current system of targeting was not attractive to any of the witnesses who came before the Health Committee.

However, the Executive goes further and says, "We want to bring forward proposals to increase the number of sufferers of chronic conditions who will be exempt," and that it intends to introduce exemptions for as yet unspecified chronic conditions, pointing out that the list of chronic conditions has not been changed since 1968 and is, therefore, worthy of review.

The fact of the matter is that the list of chronic conditions has been looked at 13 times since 1968. Every review concluded that we should leave well alone, because it is a Pandora's box. The National Assembly for Wales decided that it was

"not practically possible to rank chronic conditions in terms of clinical need for medication."

In other words, all chronic conditions should be covered, or none. That is the reality of the sheer folly of the Executive's suggestion of ranking the suffering of cancer patients against that of asthmatics, or the suffering of people with Parkinson's disease against that of people with cystic fibrosis or Crohn's disease. What an unattractive proposition.

The second, and perhaps weakest, argument from the Scottish Executive is that abolition of prescription charges would lose the national health service £45 million of vital income and lead to cuts elsewhere. That raises two questions. Who pays the £45 million and where does it come from? As I have already illustrated, it comes from people who can ill afford to pay those charges. It comes from the 300,000 people who are on disability living allowance, from people on incapacity benefit and from the 850,000 people who are on low pay. They are the people who run the risk of not getting the treatment that they need.

The Executive says that the £45 million could not be absorbed into the budget and would lead to cuts elsewhere. Let us look at the evidence: £45 million represents 0.5 per cent of the national health service budget in Scotland. In Scotland, 99.5 per cent of the NHS's income comes from taxes, but it is the 0.5 per cent that comes from prescription charges that we cannot do without. The NHS's income is £9,000 million a year, but £45 million cannot be absorbed. I remind the minister of the background: the United Kingdom Department of Health at Westminster pledged a 7 per cent increase in health expenditure year by year until 2009. That gives the real context of the £45 million.

Two years ago, the former Secretary of State for Health, John Reid, renegotiated—to his credit, and I applaud him for it—the contract between the drugs companies and the national health service to the advantage of the service of £1.8 billion over the next five years. The financial claims of the Scottish Executive in the matter are just not credible.

The evidence in front of us today makes it absolutely clear that there would be savings for the national health service from the abolition of prescription charges: the £2 million that it costs to run the system. I see that the minister is now nodding in agreement after shaking his head; it always pays to listen to the end of a sentence. It is also clear that other parts of the national health service must pick up the tab for those who are denied their prescriptions. If they present themselves at hospital, the cost is £1,800 a week for a stay in a general hospital or £7,000 a week for a stay in a high-dependency or intensive care unit. That is the reality of people going without prescriptions. Considerable savings are to be made from the £45 million.

Finally, I want to touch on the party politicking that is going on in the chamber on the question of prescription charges. Scottish Socialist Party policy is to support the abolition of prescription charges and to support the bill, and that is the position of the Greens and the Scottish National Party. The Liberal Democrats will go into the 2007 Holyrood election calling for the abolition of prescription charges, but they will not vote for it today. The Labour Party policy in Wales was to abolish prescription charges, which, much to its credit, it did in 2003. However, the Labour Party in Scotland refuses to abolish charges—it hasnae got the bottle.

Some cynics have suggested that Labour would back the bill if it had come from a Labour member, but I could not possibly comment. Labour MSPs intend to vote against the bill, while the Labour Party in Wales championed the abolition of prescription charges. The Scottish Executive offers vague propositions in a consultation that begins today, yet there is a bill before the Parliament that would abolish prescription charges and introduce fairness and equality in the national health service. That is the choice for Labour back benchers. Members should support the bill, which I have pleasure in commending to the Parliament.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill.

Parliament Rejects Scrapping Charges

2006-01-26T11:00:00.000Z

You can find the official parliament report of the debate on the Scottish Parliament Website.

Herald Report

The Herald Editorial

If it's broke, fix it. That would be a useful adage to apply to the prescription charge regime in Scotland. It is outdated, anomalous, unfair and crying out for reform. MSPs had the chance yesterday to do something bold about it when the bill promoted by Colin Fox, the Scottish Socialist Party leader, to abolish these charges came before the Scottish Parliament. In the event, they voted by a large majority (77 to 40 with one abstention) against the really radical solution. The vote pleased Scottish Executive ministers, who argued that universal free prescriptions would cost the NHS many millions of pounds a year to benefit the better-off, who can afford to pay the charge.

MSPs vote on prescription charges

2006-01-25T10:49:00.000Z

Press Association

MSPs are to be asked to vote on proposed legislation scrapping prescription charges, as ministers unveil plans to reform the current system.

Socialist proposals to scrap the £6.50 charge will face their first parliamentary hurdle, but Jack McConnell said the move was "misguided".

The First Minister said the Executive's planned reforms would aim to help those who struggled to pay for multiple prescriptions or regular ones for particular conditions.

Earlier this year, Holyrood's Health Committee endorsed - by five votes to four - the general principles of the Bill, brought forward by Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox.

Mr McConnell said: "I think Colin Fox's proposal, which would mean people like him and I would not pay prescription charges and would do nothing to help ensure that the balance of provision in the health service is directed to those who need it most, is misguided, it's wrong in principle and it would be damaging in practice."

Mr McConnell said Parliament had to devise a new prescription system that better met the needs of the health service and users. He said any reforms should also help young people and those in education.

Mr Fox claimed his party had won the argument over prescription charges, irrespective of whether MSPs backed it, saying: "The abolition of NHS prescription charges is universally popular among the public."

"Support in the country for the abolition of this despised tax on the sick is absolutely overwhelming and MSPs should reflect on that before the vote."

The Bill was kept alive after Health Committee member and Labour MSP Kate Maclean voted for Mr Fox's proposal along with the Liberal Democrats' Mike Rumbles. Three Labour MSPs, Helen Eadie, Janis Hughes, and Duncan McNeil, and Tory MSP Nanette Milne dissented from the report's recommendation.

About half the Scottish population is eligible to pay charges. But the half that are exempt require many more prescriptions and in 2004 only 8% of prescriptions had to be paid for. The Executive has acknowledged there are "anomalies and inconsistencies" in the current system.

NHS principles dictate that prescriptions should be free to all

2006-01-19T11:01:00.000Z

Colin Fox MSP has an article in today's Scotsman putting the case for his bill to scrap prescription charges. Unfortunately this content is only available online for subscribers. So get down to the newsagent!

Students press case for free prescriptions

2006-01-18T11:32:00.000Z

Scotsman: "SCOTTISH students have renewed their campaign to scrap prescription charges for those in full-time education.

The National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland said it had recently met Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen and Health Minister Andy Kerr to press the issue.

The NUS has long argued students should be exempt from the £6.50 per item charges.

But the organisation has not taken a position for or against the Bill being promoted in the Scottish Parliament by Scottish Socialist Party leader and Lothians MSP Colin Fox to abolish prescription charges altogether.

NUS Scotland president Melanie Ward said: 'Many students find that they have to forego other essential items in order to pay the cost of a prescription.

'Students are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet and they are forced into high levels of debt. We are calling for the Scottish Executive to make students exempt from prescription charges, recognising that essential services, such as access to healthcare, should be provided free of charge as part of the government support package.'"

Lobby Parliament, Wednesday 25th January!

2006-01-17T20:21:00.000Z

The debate on the Abolition of Prescription Charges will now take place on Wednesday 25th January at 2.15pm. We intend to have a lobby at 12 noon outside the public entrance to the parliament building. We would be grateful if you could encourage as many people as you can to give support. Please bring banners, placards, wear uniforms - anything you can think of to highlight the lobby.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Once again, many thanks for your help and support throughout the campaign.

Kind regards.

Lorna Bett
SCRAP Committee

Campaigning for an End to Prescription Charges

2006-01-14T16:07:00.000Z

Edinburgh Evening News - Politics - 'Sick tax' MSP tests opinion: "Sick tax' MSP tests opinion

SCOTTISH Socialist leader Colin Fox will take to Princes Street tomorrow to test public opinion on his Bill to scrap prescription charges.

The Scottish Parliament's health committee this week gave its backing to the Lothian MSP's proposal. He has branded the charges a 'tax on the sick'.

The Executive has made clear it will continue to resist the move, arguing instead for a revision of the list of exemptions.

But Mr Fox said he now had 54 MSPs ready to vote for his Bill, including Labour and Liberal Democrat rebels. He said: 'The momentum is in our direction. The most recent poll shows 81 per cent support for abolition.'"

Dundee appeal over prescriptions

2006-01-14T16:06:00.000Z

Evening Telegraph: News

Dundee appeal over prescriptions

Dundee’s Anti Poverty Forum is calling for local MSPs to back the Scottish Socialist campaign to abolish NHS prescription charges.
In a bulletin sent to their members and local MSPs today, the forum said they believe the argument for abolition has been convincingly won and applaud MSPs Kate MacLean and Shona Robison for supporting it.

Jim MacLean, from the Dundee Anti Poverty Forum, said, “We are urging the other list MSPs to follow the example of their colleagues and support the abolition of prescription charges.”

In Dundee there are 10,000 people suffering long-term sickness and in receipt of incapacity benefit or severe disability allowance, and the Anti Poverty Forum believes that thousands of Dundonians would benefit from the abolition.

The SSP claims that 75,000 Scots go without some or all of the medicine they require because of the cost of prescriptions, currently £6.50 each.

The party believes prescription charges undermine the core principal of the NHS — a service free to all in need.

At Holyrood on Wednesday, the health committee endorsed the general principles of the Bill brought forward by SSP leader Colin Fox

Tell Your MSP: Scrap Prescription Charges

2006-01-12T09:08:00.000Z

There has been widespread discussion in the media of the decision of the Scottish Parliament Health Committee to back Colin Fox's bill to scrap prescription charges.

We urge all supporters of the bill to contact their MSP's and let them know how you feel. Write to the newspapers, call the discussion programmes. We need to let the politicians in Holyrood know how strongly this bill is supported in Scotland.

Here is a selection of some of the commentary.

The Herald

A prescription for change
Editorial Comment January 12 2006

To join up with Wales, or stay with England? That is the question confronting Scotland's political class on the thorny issue of prescription charges. Colin Fox, the Scottish Socialist Party leader, has promoted a bill to abolish these charges. These will be phased out by the Welsh Assembly in 2007. The Scottish Executive is against abolition on grounds of cost, £45.4m a year and rising, and that those who can afford the £6.50 fee for each subscription should continue to pay (pre-payment is cheaper). One route out of this political impasse would be for the Scottish Parliament to debate and vote on Mr Fox's bill.

The Scotsman

ANDY Kerr, the health minister, was accused of "political expediency" last night after he rejected a cross-party attempt to get prescription charges scrapped for everyone in Scotland.

A Scottish Socialist Party bill to abolish the £6.50 prescription charge was backed by Holyrood's health committee yesterday, raising hopes among campaigners that Scotland would follow the lead set by Wales and abolish the charge.

But Mr Kerr said it would be wrong for the state to pay for a universal benefit for all and cover the costs of those who could afford to pay, arguing that it would be better to target money at those most in need.

Colin Fox, the SSP MSP who introduced the bill, said: "The health minister cannot have his cake and eat it. Recently we have seen the introduction of free care for the elderly along with eye and dental checks, all provided regardless of income.

"For Andy Kerr to then turn round and oppose abolishing NHS prescription charges because it would be a universal measure is a complete nonsense."

Daily Record

Fox said: "There is now unanimous agreement that the current system makes absolutely no sense.

"The question now is, do we tinker at the edges of a discredited exemption scheme or do we abolish it and go back to first principles?"

His party claim 75,000 Scots go without some or all of the medicine they need because of the cost.

Evening Times

LABOUR MSPs in Glasgow were today challenged to throw their weight behind abolishing prescription charges after the move was backed by Holyrood's health committee.
In a new report, the Parliament's influential health committee recommended the £6.50 charge should be ditched and replaced with free medicines.

SSP leader Colin Fox said scrapping prescription charges would be of particular benefit to people in Glasgow.
He issued this challenge: "Will Labour MSPs in Glasgow, the city with the highest levels of disability allowance and incapacity benefits in Britain, vote to deny their constituents free prescriptions?"
He urged them to follow their party colleagues in the Welsh Assembly who abolished prescription charges three years ago.
Mr Fox said: "The level of need in Glasgow and the west of Scotland means thousands of people are going without their prescription because they can't afford it."
He claimed 75,000 Scots were going without some or all of their medicines because they could not afford the £6.50 charges and an "overwhelming" proportion of them were in Glasgow.

Parliament Health Committee backs Scrapping Prescription Charges

2006-01-11T10:01:00.000Z

Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill

Full Health Committee Report at the Scottish Parliament Website.

Scottish Parliament Research Briefing (PDF)

Scottish Parliament News Report

The Health Committee today published its report on the Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges Bill, and has come down narrowly in favour of the Bill.

The Member's Bill which is being promoted by Colin Fox MSP seeks to remove the need to pay a prescription charge from those who currently do.

Committee Convener, Roseanna Cunningham MSP said:

”Our Committee was unanimous in agreeing that the status quo on prescription charges is not an option.

“We believe that the current prescription charging regime is inequitable. It exempts individuals suffering from some chronic illnesses, but not others, and it exempts some people on low incomes, but not others. There are too many inconsistencies and anomalies in the current system.

“The Deputy Minister's suggestion that the Executive may extend the remit of the review of the prescription charging scheme is welcomed, but there are concerns that the Executive appeared to be making very slow progress with this important work.”

BBC News

Prescription campaign gets boost

A campaign by the Scottish Socialists to abolish NHS prescription charges has received a significant boost.

Holyrood's health committee has given its backing to MSP Colin Fox's bill.

Ministers remain totally opposed to the idea but have accepted that they will have to address flaws in the present set-up.

The SSP claims 75,000 Scots go without some or all of the medicine they require because of the cost of prescriptions, currently £6.50 each.

The party believes prescription charges undermine the core principal of the NHS - a service free to all in need.

However, it is known that 92% of Scottish prescriptions are already free.

On Wednesday, the health committee voted narrowly in favour of the abolition of charges.

Scottish National Party MSP Roseanna Cunningham said all members agreed that the status quo on prescription charges was not an option.

They believed there were too many inconsistencies and anomalies, with some people suffering from chronic illnesses and on low incomes eligible for free prescriptions, while others were not.

However, in its report, the committee criticised some of the financial evidence offered by SSP leader Mr Fox, claiming he had overestimated savings and underestimated costs.

As ministers have rejected the idea of abolishing charges it is thought to be unlikely that the bill will reach the statute book.

The Scotsman

"The Welsh Assembly voted in 2003 to phase out charges, and they will finally disappear in Wales next year.

The verdict is expected at the very least to put pressure on ministers to widen the scope of a review of prescription charge exemptions. The committee's convener, SNP MSP Roseanna Cunningham, said: "Our committee was unanimous in agreeing that the status quo on prescription charges is not an option."

The embarrassment for the Executive was compounded by the fact that Labour's Kate Maclean, MSP for Dundee West, and the Liberal Democrats' Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, voted for Mr Fox's bill. Three Labour MSPs, Helen Eadie, Janis Hughes, and Duncan McNeil, and Tory MSP Nanette Milne dissented from the report's recommendation."

Committee backs Fox bill to scrap prescription charges

2006-01-09T13:38:00.000Z

Sunday Herald

THE abolition of prescription charges in Scotland will move a step closer this week when an influential group of MSPs backs the measure.

The Scottish parliament’s health committee has endorsed plans to scrap the £6.50 charge that critics say is a tax on the poor.

Ministers have so far opposed the move but the cross-party support will put pressure on the Executive to adopt a policy costed at £40 million.

The committee report, expected within days, follows scrutiny of Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox’s bill to end prescription charges.

He argued that the £6.50 charge penalised people on low incomes and those with conditions such as asthma, and cited research showing that 75,000 Scots go without medicines because they can’t afford them.

Prescription charges are to be abolished in Wales from 2007.

But opponents argue that the bill fails to target scarce resources at Scotland’s needy and is expensive. They say that vulnerable groups, such as pensioners and children, already receive free drugs, a flexibility that the bill’s supporters fail to recognise.

Now the health committee, after evidence from health professionals and other interest groups, has backed the “general principles” of Fox’s bill.

The nine-member group voted to back the move by a narrow majority. It is understood Labour members, with the exception of one rebel, were unmoved. One committee source said: “There was a debate on whether to delay supporting the bill, or to push ahead. The people who argued for pushing ahead were in the majority.”

Their endorsement will put pressure on the Executive to respond to a bill that ministers privately concede is popular.

MSPS IN MOVE TO END NHS CHARGES

2005-12-12T10:31:00.000Z

The Daily Record - MSPS IN MOVE TO END NHS CHARGES

MSPS could back a move to scrap all prescription charges in Scotland.

The Welsh assembly have already agreed to reduce the charges by £1 a year until they are gone.

And Scottish Socialist leader Colin Fox is pushing ahead with a member's Bill for a similar move north of the Border.

He faces strong opposition from the Executive - but the Bill has cross-party support among backbench MSPs.

The Scottish parliament's health committee are due to decide tomorrow whether or not to back the Bill.

Yesterday, Fox accused the Executive of manipulating figures.

He said: "For months, they have been telling us it would cost £44million to scrap charges"But at the last meeting, the Executive suddenly claimed the bill wouldbe £76million.

"They claim there will be a rush on GPs' surgeries which will add £17million to the bill and a further £15million in administration costs. They have just plucked the figures out of the air.

"They have also claimed it means cuts elsewhere in the health service. But the budget is set to increase by seven per cent a year - and scrapping charges would cost less than half of one per cent of the NHS budget."

Fox cited the case of an asthma sufferer having to fork out £124 a month on prescriptions out of £359 incapacity benefit.

He added: "It is crazy to have someone forking out a third of the benefits they are supposed to live on to pay for prescriptions"

Bill reaches the Health Committee

2005-12-06T09:23:00.000Z

The Scottish Parliament health committee considered the bill to abolish prescription charges at their meeting on Tuesday 29th November. You can find the full record of the meeting here.

Colin Fox MSP says:
"Things went well for us and I am optimistic that we will have influenced many.
The highlights as you can see from the record include the Deputy Minister for Health Lewis Macdonald explaining that the philosophy behind the charges is that there should be a co-payment system for healthcare provision in the UK. This is clearly at odds with the concept of a universal service free at the point of need.

He also argued that those who can afford to pay should pay but accepted that under the current system there are thousands who can afford to pay and don’t whilst at the same time tens of thousands of patients who clearly can’t afford to pay and who are forced to go without their medicines.

He also went on to say that the SE’s own review already more than a year behind schedule would not conclude until this time next year!

He was not prepared to reveal what their review might present as the ‘cabinet has not yet decided’ but he did reveal that they may take away the exemption which chronic sufferers currently receive for medicines not directly related to their particular chronic condition. For example a patient with diabetes would no longer qualify for free antibiotics for, say, a chest infection.

This surprised the Committee who then questioned the SE’s commitment to extend exemptions for those with chronic conditions, when it may actually result in a withdrawal of exemption status for people who currently don’t have to pay. Some extension!

The Minister also accepted the evidence of the Citizens Advice Bureau that perhaps as many as 75,000 prescriptions per year in Scotland are not picked up at pharmacists because the patients have difficulty paying the £6.5o charge for each item. This is significant because they have in the past tried to rubbish this research."

Dilemma on prescriptions

2005-12-01T10:02:00.000Z

Scotsman.com:

THE Labour-Lib Dem coalition has came under pressure from its own backbenchers to publish its alternative to Socialist plans to scrap all prescription charges.

Under-16s, over-60s and people with certain recurrent illnesses do not pay for prescriptions, but some chronic conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis do not guarantee such exemptions.

Holyrood's health committee is examining SSP leader Colin Fox's bill to abolish the fee of �6.40 per item and must soon recommend whether parliament approves it in principle.

Members challenged Lewis Macdonald, the deputy health minister, over the post-election pledge to review prescription charges for people with chronic health conditions.

Labour MSP Kate Maclean said she was disappointed the committee had to make a decision on Mr Fox's bill while ministers' alternatives were not known."

Progress of the Bill to Scrap Prescription Charges

2005-11-23T16:00:00.000Z

A message from Colin Fox MSP:

The Prescription Charges Bill is in the middle of its scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament Health and Finance Committees and I think we can say things are going well for us.

Two weeks ago 14 witnesses were called to appear in front of the Health Committee in its first evidence taking session. Fourteen of them supported our Bill!

Last week I was called in front of the Finance Committee to give evidence on the financial side and to answer questions on the Bills Financial Memorandum.

You can read my submission to last weeks Finance Committee here. And the official record of the Finance Committee [ 8th Nov] is available on the Scottish Parliament website here.

This week the Health Committee is on a fact finding visit to Wales to speak to them about why they decided to abolish the charges there and to see what the effect has been of the reduced rates. I am confident that the benefits will be clear to them.

Next week [Tues 29th] is the crunch meeting as both the Minister for Health [or more likely his deputy Lewis McDonald] and I will appear in front of the Health Committee to give evidence in what will be the crunch meeting.

I expect the full debate in Parliament to be in mid to late January. We are drawing nearer to the abolition of prescription charges.

MSPs in Wales on prescription fact-finding trip

2005-11-21T09:28:00.000Z

Scotsman

MSPs in Wales on fact-finding trip

MSPs will meet doctors and pharmacists in Wales during a two-day fact-finding visit to the country.

Members of the Scottish Parliament's Health Committee have made the trip to learn more about the pledge by the Welsh Assembly to abolish prescription charges by 2007. A Bill put forward by Socialist MSP Colin Fox seeks the same for Scotland.

Health Committee convenor and SNP member Roseanna Cunningham will accompany Labour's Janis Hughes, Liberal Democrat Mike Rumbles and independent MSP Dr Jean Turner on the visit.

They will meet GPs and community pharmacists before making a trip to the Welsh Assembly on Tuesday.

There they will meet the minister for health, Dr Brian Gibbons, and report back to the committee with their findings.

Ms Cunningham said: "This fact-finding visit will give us a valuable insight into the abolition of prescription charges in Wales.

"We are keen to hear more about how this has worked so we can scrutinise the Bill with this knowledge.

"The visit also provides a useful opportunity to meet key figures from another devolved legislature including Dr Brian Gibbons."

Scottish Socialist leader Colin Fox introduced the member's Bill earlier this year, urging the Scottish Parliament to follow the Welsh Assembly's lead and scrap charges.

The MSP said thousands of patients were going without treatment because they could not afford their medicine.

Prescription Charges Bill Goes To Committee

2005-11-01T09:46:00.000Z

The bill to scrap prescription charges goes to the Scottish Parliament health committee today.

Colin Fox MSP has also defended his bill against the Scottish Pharmaceutical Federation who have reversed their 50 year opposition to the charges.

BBC

Mr Fox said that prescription charges were a "tax on the sick".

He said: "It is only the sick who pay for them. The NHS should be funded out of our general taxes.

"Nobody defends the status quo. The system of exemptions seems to be irrational, illogical and acting against the founding principles of the National Health Service."

The SSP leader described the exemption system as "complete nonsense".

He said that MSPs in the Scottish Parliament who are over 60 qualified for free prescriptions as did the wealthy author JK Rowling, who has just had a baby.

However, there are 27,000 people on benefits who do not qualify, he said.

Parliament Bills Move

2005-10-28T13:44:00.000+01:00

BBC Independent MSPs and smaller parties are claiming the Scottish Parliament's Corporate Body (SPCB) is trying to make it harder for them to present bills.

The SPCB, which boasts representatives from the four main parties, wants to tighten the rules on independent legislation.

Critics said the plans were designed to prevent minority parties from presenting bills of any significance.

But the SPCB said limits on independent bills amounted to good housekeeping.

Independent legislation has brought about a ban on dog fouling, and could bring the abolition of prescription charges.

Now the size, scope and complexity of a bill will be taken into account before it is approved.

The main parties said the plans were in response to growing pressure on the parliament's legislative support unit.

But Green MSP Chris Ballance said it would be a backward move towards the old Westminster model of government.

SCRAP meets

2005-09-21T11:26:00.000+01:00

This Thursday the SCRAP Committee meets and there is a host of ideas to be
discussed at it. NUS Scotland are set to back the Bill.

We intend to write to all PPC's in the two by-elections to elicit their
opinions. The Bill itself soon goes in front of the Parliaments Health Committee
for in depth scrutiny and the calling of witnesses for and against it.

Please contact us if you want to get involved.

Our health service is by no means free

2005-09-21T11:25:00.000+01:00

Letter to the Herald

Our health service is by no means free

IT WAS interesting to listen to the chancellor of the exchequer addressing the Trades Union Congress on September 16. He talked about the possibilities for universal education and health services in poor Asian and African countries by comparing them with the situation in the UK. If the examples he gave hadn't been so pathetic, they would have been funny.
Mr Brown said that we have a "free" health service. He must use a different one from the one I use. Well, given his income, he's probably one of Bupa's best customers! After paying national insurance for all of our working lives, people in the UK still have to fork out a scandalous £6.50 if they go to their GP and get a prescription for a wide-spectrum antibiotic to treat a mild bacterial infection. This is well above the cost of the drugs. Don't try to tell me otherwise – I worked in the trade for 22 years. In any case, wasn't it the Labour Party's once proud boast that the NHS was "paid for by universal taxation and free at the point of use"? Aye, right! Tell that to your chemist, dentist, optician, chiropodist, etc.
Colin Fox, MSP, is trying to get a bill through the Scottish Parliament which will abolish prescription charges. I don't have the figures, but no doubt someone has, of the number of people who are put off collecting their prescribed drugs because of their outrageous cost. Then, in turn, the illness they were prescribed for may well become worse; more time may be lost from work and production falls; an infection may be spread to others and the situation "snowballs".
No doubt all the wee Labour drones in Holyrood will be whipped to vote this bill down. What will their excuse be when prescription charges are abolished in Wales in 2007 as promised by the Labour-controlled assembly?

Barry Lees, 12 Denholm Street, Greenock

Prescription charges Bill delayed again

2005-08-03T10:21:00.000+01:00

Edinburgh Evening News

A BILL to scrap prescription charges has been held up yet again in the Scottish Parliament.

Holyrood's health committee had been due to listen to evidence in September on the proposed legislation put forward by Scottish Socialist leader and Lothians MSP Colin Fox.

But now the evidence sessions have been postponed for two months until November, which means the crucial debate on whether the Bill should proceed will be delayed from the end of December until the end of January - more than two and a half years after it was first lodged.

When the previous timetable was set, Mr Fox claimed Labour and the Liberal Democrats were deliberately delaying the Bill.

But the latest delay is fortuitous for the Scottish Socialist Party as Mr Fox and three of his colleagues have been suspended from the parliament for the month of September."

Health chiefs back scrapping prescription charges

2005-07-29T12:18:00.000+01:00

Edinburgh Evening News

Health chiefs in Lothian have thrown their weight behind moves to ditch prescription charges.

NHS Lothian has written to the Scottish Parliament's health committee saying it supports the Bill being promoted by Scottish Socialist leader and Lothians MSP Colin Fox to abolish the �6.40 charge.

It argued the current system was unfair and the criteria for exemptions - which gives diabetics free prescriptions while people with chronic bronchitis or heart disease have to pay - was illogical.

And Dr Philip Rutledge, NHS Lothian consultant in medicine management, said the Scottish Executive's preferred approach of reviewing the list of exemptions was not satisfactory because medical advances meant the situation was constantly changing.

Mr Fox's Bill would make all prescriptions in Scotland free of charge, as the Welsh Assembly has already voted to do.

DrRutledge said: "One of the strongest arguments for abolishing prescription charges is fairness.

"The existing criteria for exemptions is well out of date. It was last altered in 1968 and since then there have been quite a few changes in medicines, in disease recognition and in treatment that make the exemptions list quite illogical."

And he said it would be easier and fairer to scrap the charges altogether rather than altering the list of exemptions. He said: "The argument against just revising the exemptions is they would have to revise it very frequently.

"The way things are moving in medicine, there are new treatments coming up all the time that change disease management quite quickly."

Dr Rutledge said there was evidence to support the view that prescription charges led to people going without the medicines they needed and their health subsequently deteriorating.

Health boards receive the income from prescription charges to help offset their growing drugs bill and might therefore be seen as having a vested interest in the charges being maintained.

But Mr Fox said other health boards had also indicated their support for his Bill.

NHS Lothian receives around �6.8 million a year from prescription charges, which is used towards its �125m drugs bill.

And its submission to the committee said ways should be explored to offset the loss of revenue to health boards.

Mr Fox today welcomed NHS Lothian's support.

He said: "This is one of the biggest health authorities in the country saying on the basis of their day-to-day frontline experience prescription charges should be abolished.

"It is an important additional piece of support which gives even more momentum for the Bill."

Call to scrap prescription charge

2005-06-22T11:23:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Call to scrap prescription charge: "
Unison wants drug companies to foot the bill for prescription costs
An attempt is being made at Holyrood to abolish prescription charges.

Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox introduced a member's bill earlier this year, claiming the charges amount to a 'tax on the sick'.

The SSP wants MSPs to follow the Welsh Assembly, which will phase out charges by 2007.

The bill has moved to the health committee for discussion by MSPs and is being backed by the public services union Unison.

Unison health organiser Jim Devine said cost was a factor in 75,000 prescriptions not being picked up every year in Scotland.

About 91% of items dispensed in Scotland are already supplied free of charge.

Speaking on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Devine said the Scottish Executive raised �43m every year through prescription charges and argued that the Scottish taxpayer should not be footing the bill.

He said too many people in Scotland were 'storing up' health difficulties and not collecting the prescriptions they needed.

Drugs bill

'They go into their chemist for a headache and buy painkillers,' he went on.

'In the vast majority of cases, this will suffice. But in some other cases we have more serious problems and we store up difficulties.

'We store up difficulties in heart disease, strokes and people who have just been discharged from psychiatric hospital.

'If the choice is between eating and medication, they will choose eating.'

Mr Devine said he was 'astonished' by the Scottish Executive talking about the successes of efficient government when the country's drugs bill had reached nearly �1bn.

'According to Audit Scotland, that bill has doubled in real terms in seven years,' he added.

'The health service has been a cash cow for drug companies and we believe we should learn lessons from other countries, sit down with the drug companies and ensure they pick up this tab.'

"

RCN: Congress Backs End to Prescription Charges

2005-05-11T12:24:00.000+01:00

RCN: Calls for End to Prescription Charges

The Royal College of Nursing has voted to support a motion from its Glasgow branch calling for an end to prescription charges, at its annual conference. This is a further boost to the campaign to scrap prescription charges. Click on the link above for a full report on the debate.

Executive blocks Prescription Charges Bill till December

2005-02-23T15:41:00.000Z

Edinburgh Evening News

IAN SWANSON
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

NEW Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox has accused the Scottish Executive of censoring debate on his Bill to scrap prescription charges.

A decision by the Scottish Parliament’s business bureau means the Bill will not be debated in the parliament until Christmas - a full two and a half years after it was first lodged.

Mr Fox, a list MSP for the Lothians, claimed the Executive parties, which have a majority of the votes in the bureau, were deliberately delaying the proposed legislation despite widespread public support.

"So much for the idea the parliament is ready to spring into action on new ideas," he said. "This suggests it has all the spring in its step of an extinct dinosaur.

"It means 75,000 people in Scotland will face another year when they will go without medicines they need because they don’t have the money."

The Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill was first put forward by Mr Fox in June 2003. But the Stage One debate - to decide whether the general principles of the Bill should be approved - is not scheduled until December 22, the day before MSPs begin their Christmas break.

Mr Fox said he was convinced the Executive was behind the delay. "I’m accusing them of censoring the parliament’s opportunity to debate this Bill fully."

An Executive spokesman said the timetabling of parliamentary business was a matter for the parliament. "It doesn’t have anything directly to do with the Executive," he said. "The scheduling is decided by the business bureau on the recommendation, in this case of the health committee."

SCRAP Newsletter

2005-02-07T09:55:00.000Z

SCRAP has produced it's first newsletter in support of its campaign.

click here to view or download the newsletter (PDF file)

Lib Dems backing free prescriptions

2005-01-28T14:15:00.000Z

The Herald

FREE prescriptions should be a Liberal Democrat condition of the next coalition talks, according to the party's health spokesman, piling further pressure on fraught relations between the Scottish Executive parties.
Mike Rumbles has backed an idea being pursued by the Scottish Socialist Party, with a bill that three Liberal Democrat MSPs have signed up to.
That makes it likely that the £45m annual bill for such a policy will be a demand made by LibDems if there is to be another coalition negotiation between them and Labour after the 2007 election.
Both Jack McConnell, the first minister, and Andy Kerr, the Labour health minister, last week rubbished the SSP proposal as unaffordable.
However Mike Rumbles, LibDem health spokesman, argues that the idea is "eminently sensible and perfectly affordable from his party's perspective".
But he said the party is not going to vote for the SSP bill because it is not part of the partnership agreement made after the 2003 election.
That coalition deal means that there will be a review of prescription charges for full-time students and for the range of chronic conditions for which prescriptions are free – which was last reviewed in 1968 and covers only a few illnesses.
"As with free personal care for the elderly, health provision should be free at the point of need," said Mr Rumbles. "I shall certainly be pushing for this to be in the 2007 manifesto. The Labour party wants targeted benefits, but we believe that you should have health benefits freely available to all."
Mike Pringle, the LibDem Edinburgh South MSP, one of those who has signed the SSP bill, said he could not vote for it because of the coalition commitment, but that he would push for it to be in the next partnership agreement.
He added: "You shouldn't be charging people for drugs anyway. We're not talking about a huge amount of money, so let's just make it simple and save people the hassle and administration cost." An estimated 50% of Scots are liable for prescription charges, though only one in 10 prescriptions is paid for.
The call will raise pressure between Labour and their coalition partners in the election run-up, with both parties eager to project distinctive messages to voters.
LibDems, who claim credit for forcing Labour to introduce free personal care for the elderly in Scotland, this week threatened to vote down a ministerial attempt to let Westminster legislate for new trespass laws.

MSP says half the cost of axing pills charge would be recouped

2005-01-21T11:35:00.000Z

Evening News

£20m savings claim in free prescriptions fight

MSP says half the cost of axing pills charge would be recouped

IAN SWANSON
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

NEARLY half the cost of scrapping prescription charges in Scotland could be recouped through savings elsewhere in the health service, it was claimed today.

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Colin Fox said the estimated £45 million that would be lost through introducing free prescriptions would be offset by up to £20m of savings, mostly as a result of fewer people needing hospital treatment.

The Lothians list MSP was today formally unveiling his Bill to abolish prescription charges, following the example of the Welsh Assembly, which voted to scrap the charges last year.

Mr Fox said: "Prescription charges are a lie to the promise the health service gave in the 1940s that it would provide universal healthcare free at the point of need.

"It’s not free and 75,000 people in Scotland have gone without the medicines they needed because they did not have the £6.40 per item for the prescription."

Mr Fox branded the current charges a tax on the sick. But he said an analysis of the financial impact of abolishing the charges, carried out by parliament officials, had shown large savings could be made through lifting the cash barrier to people getting medicine.

The revenue raised from prescription charges in Scotland last year was £45m. Exemption schemes cost over £1.5m to administer and more than £250,000 was spent on anti-fraud advertising, costs which would not be incurred if the charge was scrapped. But the biggest savings would come from the reduction in people needing hospital treatment as a result of not getting the right medicine.

Mr Fox said: "The civil servants believe that if 75,000 don’t get prescriptions because they can’t afford them, a significant proportion will see their condition deteriorate and many will find themselves having to go to other NHS facilities.

"They reckon there are £20m of savings to other NHS facilities in granting free prescriptions." The calculation was based on the numbers of patients not taking up prescriptions, the percentage who might then require hospital treatment and the costs of hospital admissions.

The average cost of treating an acute in-patient is put at £1875 a week, rising to £7500 a week for patients having heart surgery.

Mr Fox said: "The financial argument in favour of abolition is increasingly robust. It now appears clear there are considerable savings to be made. I believe the Executive’s argument it would lead to cuts elsewhere to be nonsense.

"Even £40m is only four per cent of the NHS’s annual drug bill in Scotland. And the income from prescription charges is less than half of one per cent of NHS income."

The Bill to scrap prescription charges will go to the parliament’s health committee next week to start taking evidence on its proposals.

And Mr Fox said he was "more than hopeful" that he could get the legislation through parliament, despite the Executive’s opposition.

He said 22 MSPs had already signed up in support of the Bill. The SNP was said to be concerned about the financial implications of abolition, but Mr Fox hopes today’s figures will help persuade them to support the move.

Opponents of Mr Fox’s Bill argue many of the people who can’t afford to pay prescription charges are already exempt under various categories.

The Scottish Executive says it is conducting a review of prescription charges for people in full-time education and those with chronic conditions.

It expects to consult on changes to the system in the spring.

MSP wants all Scots to get free NHS drugs

2005-01-21T11:32:00.000Z

Evening Times

A BID to abolish NHS prescription charges was launched today at Holyrood.
Socialist MSP Colin Fox has tabled legislation he claims would benefit 75,000 Scots who are not exempt from charges.
They include sufferers of chronic illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/Aids.

Mr Fox said the £6.40 prescription charge was a "tax on the sick" and contradicted the original NHS principle of providing free health care at the point of use.
He said: "It is not free at the point of need because if you don't have £6.40 you don't get the treatment.

"That's what's happening to 75,000 Scots every year who don't have the cash and are going without the treatment they need."
Mr Fox said people not exempt from paying for prescriptions included 27,000 receiving benefits allowance and workers on the minimum wage.
He claimed research in the UK, Europe and Canada had consistently shown that charges resulted in patients not taking the treatment they needed because of the cost.

Figures from 2001/2 show prescription charges raised £43million of a total NHS prescription drug bill of £733m.
But Mr Fox argued that the cost of abolishing the charges in lost revenue to the NHS would be much less than £43m a year.

He claimed the NHS would save £20m a year in treatment costs for people who don't take up prescriptions because of the £6.40 charges and end up in hospital.
Mr Fox admitted these savings would be offset by the additional cost of such people taking up free prescriptions, but he insisted that overall it would be less than the bill for hospital stays.

He also said there would be savings of £3m in administration.

His Abolition of Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill has the backing of 22 MSPs, including Labour's Elaine Smith, and he is urging more Labour MSPs to follow the example of their colleagues in the Welsh Assembly, who have already voted to phase out the charges.

A spokeswoman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland said: "We would be delighted if prescription charges for people with chronic conditions were abolished."

Tony Benn Backs Campaign

2005-01-20T18:30:00.000Z

Tony Benn has sent a message to Colin Fox MSP offering his full support for the campaign to Scrap Prescription Charges.

Dear Colin
Full support for your campaign,
When I took my seat in parliament 54 years ago this month there were no
prescription charges and they were imposed because of a re-armament
programme.
In unity
Tony

Minutes available

2004-12-09T10:56:00.000Z

The minutes of the last national SCRAP meeting can be found in PDF format here.

MID SCOTLAND AND FIFE SCRAP PRESCRIPTION CHARGES CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

2004-12-09T09:51:00.000Z

Press Release

MID SCOTLAND AND FIFE SCRAP PRESCRIPTION CHARGES CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED.

A local branch of the Scottish Campaign to Remove All Prescription Charges covering Mid Scotland and Fife has been launched.

SCRAP will be working to build support for Colin Fox MSP's Scottish Parliament Bill to abolish prescription charges.

The parliament has the power to take such a step and in so doing would follow the example of the Welsh Assembly which will see charges phased out completely by 2007.

SCRAP Local spokesman Rowland Sheret said:

"Getting rid of prescription charges would have a major positive impact on Scotland's health. This fact is clearly underlined by official figures which show that 78,000 Scots patients were forced to go without prescription on cost grounds. last year." "Many of them may well have seen their illness worsen as a result and this has costs both for the patient and the Health Service. "

"Government claims that abolition cannot be afforded are just not true. The annual cost would be £46 million as part of an annual Scottish NHS budget £8,800 million."

"SCRAP will be on the streets, in the communities and workplaces with meetings, petition and letters to politicians pressing hard for this vital health measure".

End

Contact : Rowland Sheret 01786 471554
Visit SCRAP at www.scrapcharges.org.uk

Bill to be lodged in January

2004-12-07T11:10:00.001Z

A quick roundup of some campaign news.

Firstly and most importantly, the bill will be lodged in January. We will make a copy of it available on this website then.

The national SCRAP group will be contacting all 1,200 community councils across Scotland to ask for their support for the bill.

Following meetings we hope to set up regional SCRAP groups soon.

And finally, SCRAP have a banner which we will be unveiling shortly.

Model Resolution for Trade Unions

2004-12-07T11:10:00.000Z

You can download a model resolution on the abolition of prescription charges for trades union branches here.

Learning from the Welsh

2004-11-25T13:53:00.000Z

Colin Fox MSP visited the Welsh Assembly to learn how Wales scrapped prescription charges.

Above is Colin with Daffyd Ellis Thomas, AM. He is the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly of Wales inn Cardiff.

The Scottish Campaign to Scrap Prescription Charges is meeting today and will be stepping up its campaign in Scotland.

MSP Demands Drugs Bill Savings Used to Scrap Charges

2004-11-03T14:34:00.000Z

News From the Scottish Campaign to Remove All Prescription charges
Wed 3rd November 2004

MSP Demands Drugs Bill Savings Used to Scrap Charges

Scottish Socialist Party MSP, Colin Fox, today called on the government to use some of the £1.8billion it has saved from its drugs bill to abolish NHS prescription charges.

Health Minister John Reid had earlier announced the NHS will save 7% on the cost of branded prescription drugs over the next 5 years following a re-negotiation of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme [PPRS].
The contract between the government and drugs companies comes up for renewal every five years. Mr Reid said ‘The agreement delivers savings of more than £1.8billion. I want to put that directly into front line services.’

Mr Fox believes some of the money should be used to scrap the charges patients pay for their medicines. He said
‘Across Britain more than 700,000 patients were forced to go without their medicines last year because they could not afford the £6.40 charge.
[See below for sources.]
Last week Scottish Health Minister Andy Kerr told me more than 27,000 people on benefits alone in Scotland did not qualify for free treatment.
The £1.8billion of savings announced today offers the government the chance to end a serious injustice at the heart of the NHS. One which sees people denied the drugs they need because they can’t afford them.
In Scotland the cost of abolition would be around £40million, across Britain £400m. This is an appropriate use of this windfall.
The Welsh Assembly has already voted to abolish the charges there.
I urge John Reid to keep a promise the NHS made to every patient in the country i.e. to provide universal free health care. Nearly a million patients do not currently qualify for exemptions and therefore have to pay in full. This represents a promise broken every day.’

Mr Fox has a Bill to abolish prescription charges which will shortly appear in front of the Scottish Parliament. ENDS

Note To Editor
Citizens Advice Bureau report ‘Unhealthy Charges’ 2003 and Office of Fair Trading.

SCRAP Meetings

2004-10-25T16:55:00.000+01:00

The following people were elected as SCRAP office bearers at last weeks Committee meeting;

Chairman - Colin Fox, MSP
Secretary - Jim Milne of the Dundee Anti Poverty Alliance
Treasurer - Dr David Player of the Public Health Forum

The next meeting of the Committee will be on Thursday 25th November at 12.45pm in Scottish Parliament.

New Posters

2004-10-18T16:13:00.000+01:00

SCRAP have produced a set of three posters and postcards as part of our campaign. You can download them from our resources page here.

Fox to hear how Welsh ditched NHS drug charges

2004-10-12T14:20:00.000+01:00

Edinburgh Evening News

SCOTTISH Socialist Colin Fox was today set to visit the Welsh Assembly to hear how it decided to scrap prescription charges.

The Lothians MSP, who is behind a bill to abolish the charges in Scotland, said the Labour-led administration in Cardiff started off intending only to review the list of exemptions. The Scottish Executive announced last month it was carrying out a similar review.

Mr Fox hopes that too could lead to ditching the charges altogether.

He is due to meet Health Minister Jane Hutt, her deputy David Melling and health committee convener John Griffiths.

He said: "The position in Wales was exactly the same as the Executive’s. They were looking to extend the exemptions, but then decided for £10.5 million they could abolish them altogether and create a massive feelgood factor.

"The Welsh Assembly voted this time last year to abolish charges and they have already started phasing them out at £1 a year between now and 2007."

The Executive has begun the first phase of its review, examining how prescription charges work in other countries, which will be followed in four or five months by a wide-ranging consultation on widening the categories of exemption. Mr Fox said the cost of abolishing charges in Scotland would be £46m.

SCRAP Meeting

2004-10-08T09:37:00.000+01:00

The Scottish Campaign to Remove All Prescription Charges Committee meets on 20th October at 12.30 in Tower Garden, Room 20 of the Scottish Parliament. Participants include MSP's, union reps, health practitioners, community activists and patients groups. The meeting will consider the progress of the Bill and lay plans for countrywide campaigning.

Welsh visit

2004-10-07T16:50:00.000+01:00

I am visiting Cardiff next week to meet Welsh campaigners who successfully persuaded their Assembly to scrap the charges. I hope to meet health minister Jane Hutt who steered the Bill through the Welsh assembly and remains in charge of the policy. - Colin Fox MSP

Writing on the Wall for Prescription Charges

2004-10-06T13:11:00.000+01:00

You know how it goes, you wait ages for a boost and then three come along all at once. This week the Scottish Campaign to Remove All Prescription Charges [SCRAP] was boosted by a series of unconnected announcements across Britain.

On October 1st the Welsh Assembly cut the cost of prescriptions by a £1. This charge in Wales is now £5. In the rest of the UK it is £6.40. This reduction is part of a decision taken last year to abolish charges completely in Wales by 2007.

I immediately demanded that Jack McConnell ‘up his game’ and follow suit. Needless to say he didn’t. Incidentally most MSP’s attitude is to challenge him to ‘Up yours Jack.’

The second major development emerged from the Scottish Executive’s annual spending review unveiled at Holyrood this week.

Finance Minister Andy Kerr promised among other things to increase the NHS budget by £660 million. Taken with the £100 million u-turn by Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm over Glasgow’s Queen Mothers Hospital these announcements surely destroy the argument one and for all that we cannot find £40 million to abolish prescription charges. Equally it shows that providing money for one part of the NHS need not automatically come from another.

The trilogy of good news was completed when I received a letter from Malcolm Chisholm where, for the first time, he outlines the timetable and remit of the long awaited review of the charges promised by the Executive in it’s partnership agreement.
The two phase review will, according to Malcolm Chisholm, start with a 5 month long examination of ‘the prescription charging and exemption arrangements in comparable health systems and the effectiveness of different arrangements for publicising prescription charges exemptions’.

Phase two is a 3 month public consultation on the findings beginning in May 2005.

I welcome all these developments as positive contributions to the debate. Campaigners across Scotland should be heartened by these changes. I believe the case for complete abolition of the charges in Scotland is gaining significant support. The writing is on the wall for prescription charges. Numerous studies for example have already shown that charges in Britain are the highest in Europe. And other reports clearly highlight the link between charges and preventing access to medicines.

Meanwhile SCRAP will meet again on October 20th in the parliament to discuss the substantial progress which the Members Bill has made, its parliamentary timetable and plans a series of meetings around Scotland. We intend to take our case out to hospitals and communities everywhere.

If you are interested in joining the campaign contact SCRAP via its website www.scrapcharges.org.uk or via Colin Fox’s office in the Scottish Parliament 0131 348 6386.

COLIN FOX, MSP

Wales cuts prescriptions by £1

2004-10-04T09:12:00.000+01:00

BBC News

Prescription charges in Wales have fallen by £1 in the first step towards making them completely free by 2007.

From Friday patients will pay £5 for a single prescription, and pre-payment plans for drugs will also be reduced.

Wales is the only part of the UK to promise to scrap the charges, which remain at £6.40 elsewhere.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan ruled out significant numbers of "health tourists" crossing into Wales to take advantage of cheaper prescriptions.

He said he did not think people from outside Wales would not swamp the system.

"All our experience from the under-25s policy is that the number of people who take advantage is minimal," he said.

"We do not want to subsidise the English health system."

Mr Morgan added the rules would be changed to ensure that only people with a GP and a pharmacist in Wales would benefit, before the charges are scrapped in 2007.

Charges for individual prescriptions in Wales have been frozen at £6 and free for the under 25s since 2001 - unlike the rest of the UK.

Health Minister Jane Hutt
Jane Hutt says the assembly's twin track approach on health is working

'Postcode lottery'

At present, there is nothing to stop patients from across the border coming to Wales for their medicines to be dispensed.

The Royal College of GPs' Wales spokesperson Dr Mark Boulter said: "While we welcome any reduction in prescription charges for patients in Wales we are worried this may create a postcode lottery for people living on the border between Wales and England.

"Under the new rules a Welsh patient living in England with a GP in Wales would not benefit from these reductions. We want to see reduced charges for all patients no matter where they live."

Julian Bartram, a pharmacist in Sedbury, Gloucestershire, just on the other side of Offa's Dyke, said he expected the number of paid prescriptions he dealt with "to drop quite dramatically".

"Anybody with any sense would go over onto the Welsh side," he said.

"They [Welsh pharmacists] can dispense English prescriptions as well as Welsh ones."

Secondary legislation could be introduced to tighten that loophole Asthma patient Lynne Haeney, from Swansea, who has been paying £18 a month to treat her condition, supports the cut.

"To reduce it by a pound is a step in the right direction, but it would ideally, and will be in the future, be down to nothing," she said.

"It will make a great difference. Chronic sufferers of asthma, like diabetes and other conditions, should be exempt from prescription charges."

Already, about 50% of people in Wales are exempt from paying for drugs ordered by their GP.

They include the over-60s and people with some long-term medical conditions, like diabetes.

This year, the cost implication of the policy has been calculated at £2.7m.

Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt said the reduction was designed to help people with chronic diseases like asthma and cancer, who are not exempt, to get back to work and training.

"It's the Welsh way of improving health. It's our funding and our decision," she said.

"We know it's going to be popular... and the rest of the UK is looking to us.

"In fact there is evidence by the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Office of Fair Trading, that many people don't get their prescriptions dispensed because they can't pay the charges, and that can result in people getting ill and needing hospital treatment."

'Deprive patients'

The pharmaceutical industry said the price cut should not lead to patients missing out on medicines.

"It is important that reducing the contributions made by patients to the cost of prescriptions, does not deprive patients of the medicines they need in an effort to keep the overall prescribing budget down," said Dr Richard Greville, director of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Cymru Wales.

"To reduce the range of treatments available to patients in Wales, or to reduce prescribing which clinicians believe is appropriate and evidence based is not an acceptable alternative."

Plaid Cymru health spokesman Rhodri Glyn Thomas said the assembly government had reneged on a commitment to ensure that people with a chronic lifelong condition would be free of prescription charges.

"Today people would be paying a pound less for their prescriptions, but had Labour kept true to their word, those people suffering from a chronic condition would have been benefiting from no prescription charges for some months."

Plaid wanted charges scrapped and Mr Thomas said he was "happy that Labour has finally followed our policy".

The Liberal Democrats in Wales have criticised the staged cutting of prescription costs, saying the long-term chronically sick needed free prescriptions now.

"Labour promised free prescriptions, but patients are being made to wait for this slow process," said the party's assembly health spokesperson Kirsty Williams.

Prescription Charges – The case for Abolition

2004-09-28T09:52:00.000+01:00

Prescription Charges – The case for Abolition

I was on Princes Street in Edinburgh on Saturday. The Scottish Campaign to Remove All Prescription Charges was conducting a street stall. The response from the public was fantastic. It always is. It is easy to see why the polls show support for scrapping this 'tax on the sick' running at 7 to 1. And can I say a big thank you to all the Scottish Mirror readers who stopped to sign our petition.

One senior citizen I met, a man called Tommy from Livingston, asked if I knew why the charges were introduced in the first place. I did but let him tell me anyway. 'To pay for Britains involvement in the Korean War.' He told me. And he was right, at least in part. 'Surely', he laughed, 'after 53 years we must have paid for it by now!'

Anuerin Bevan

One question I'm often asked, especially by older patients, is 'what makes you think you can succeed in getting rid of the charges when so many people have failed before? It is a fair point. After all even the man who brought in the NHS in the first place, Anuerin Bevan MP, failed to get rid of them.

There are important differences this time round however. First of all it is now a matter devolved to the Scottish parliament. So we can deal with it ourselves here in Scotland without waiting for Westminster. That’s why I put down a Members Bill last year. Dozens of MSP's from 4 different groups signed up to it. And I wrote this week to the SNP's new leaders Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon asking them to add their party's backing too.

The second big change in the situation is that the Welsh Assembly has already decided to abolish charges there. So the time is surely ripe for the Scottish Parliament to follow suit.

Unhealthy charges

Thirdly the evidence which suggests that 'user charges' deter patients from getting the medicines they need is now overwhelming. The Citizens Advice Bureau, for example, recently produced a report entitled ‘Unhealthy Charges’ which suggest that 75,000 prescriptions were not picked up from chemists across Scotland last year because patients couldn’t afford the £6.40 charge. Similar health studies from around the world show that for every 10% increase in charges there is a 3% fall in the numbers taking up treatment. In the past few months even Chancellor Gordon Brown has spoken out. Making people pay for treatment, he told an audience of health professionals, in answer to Tory plans to charge patients for seeing a GP, leads to clear health inequalities. The facts and figures provide a very powerful case indeed for abolition.

Furthermore the cost of prescriptions has gone up 3,600 % since 1979. If they had simply risen in line with inflation they would be 64p today. I had a constituent John who came to my surgery last week. John has to take three different tablets to keep his mental health condition under control. He is on incapacity benefit and his fortnightly prescription costs him £19.20.

A false economy

There are unfortunately tens of thousands of people like John for whom vital health treatment isn't always affordable. Indeed John told me that in February he couldn't afford his prescription and went without. Unfortunately his condition deteriorated and he was admitted to hospital. He spent 4 weeks there recovering. According to figures provided by the NHS, it costs, on average £1,600 per week to keep a patient in hospital. You can see therefore what a false economy it is to deny patients free prescriptions. For the want of £19.20 the NHS was forced to spend £6,400 treating John in hospital! I know of hundreds of patients many of whom have been in touch with my office at the Scottish parliament relating similar very real hardships they face.

Charges undermine NHS.

I believe even in 1951 when the charge was just 1/-, it undermined the NHS ideal. How can you say it is free to use when you are sick if you are asking people to pay? The sick pay once via income taxes and National Insurance and then again when they fall ill. I object to the charges in principle.

Exemptions

The Scottish Executive is about to carry out their own review of prescription charges. Unfortunately they have ruled out complete abolition. They favour extending the exemptions. Currently youngsters under 16 and senior citizens are exempt, as are pregnant and new mums and people suffering from conditions such as diabetes. There are also exemptions for certain groups on low incomes - but by no means all. There are also discount schemes for those who must continuously pay, but these involve paying a lump sum up front. However it remains the case that 50% of the population are not exempt and must pay in full.

£45 million Cost

The cost of abolition would, according to the Executive, be £45million. This is based on current income from the charges. It does not include any savings from administration costs or savings from community pharmacist's time filling out forms [estimated by them at 10hours/ week].

This £45million figure is of course meaningless unless it is seen in the wider picture. The NHS in Scotland issues 7million prescriptions/year and its drug bill is £900m. Prescription charges now recover just 4.9% of the bill. We spend more than £8,000m annually on NHS in Scotland. Therefore as you can see the income from prescription charges makes up about one half of one percent of the total NHS budget in Scotland. Whilst the cost of abolition is negligible, the cost to those who go without their medicines and suffer real hardship is unfortunately significant.

SCRAP

The Scottish Campaign to Remove all Prescription Charges [SCRAP] will be campaigning on streets across Scotland in the coming months. We aim to persuade people to support abolition. I hope you will join with us. Together we can build a huge swathe of support and change Scotland for the better. I believe it is injustices like this we voted to end when we set up the Scottish parliament in the first place?

Colin Fox MSP

Scottish Daily Mirror article 27th September 2004

Daily Mirror

2004-09-27T16:54:00.000+01:00

The campaign is featured in today's Scottish Daily Mirror, on page six! They don't carry their Scottish articles online, so we will make this available on the site ASAP.

Welcome

2004-09-24T10:59:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the news pages of the Scottish Campaign to Remove All Prescription Charges. We will keep you up to date with all the news from the campaign.

If you have suggestions for the campaign or about this site, please drop us a line.