Should we pay £10 a month to help the NHS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26788377


I think it was a big mistake for Labour to abolish the £6 prescription charge. Many doctors prescribe medicines and ointments and pills which are cheaper in the Chemist. It also means a big boost to the NHS coffers and maybe Doctors won't be so generous with prescription items.

No, but I think there should be a similar scheme to one they have in Eire, where if you stay in hospital overnight you get charged €10 a night to cover your food. You'd have to pay to eat at home, anyway.

Iris wrote:No, but I think there should be a similar scheme to one they have in Eire, where if you stay in hospital overnight you get charged €10 a night to cover your food.  You'd have to pay to eat at home, anyway.

Having tried Hospital Food Iris, I think I would give it a miss and gets my mates to bring me in something appetising. . We used to charge £6 for prescriptions I think it might have been Gordon brown who abolished it., there would be far more income from that than beds I think . So if you stay a week you are charged £70, is that right? The problem is, GP'S are writing out prescriptions for items which can be bought over the Counter. I was in Boots the chemist only a few weeks ago and a Muslim Woman picked up a prescription full of items in the Boots biggest bag. It's true the NHS is stretched to it's limit and standards have fallen but if the Hospital Managers can't find a solution , bring in Private Firms who do time and motion studies to bring the costs down.

We still pay for prescriptions in England..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2578835/Prescription-charges-rise-month-Patients-costs-rise-20p-8-05-15p-rise-follow-year.html

Prescription charges to rise next month: Patients to see costs rise by 20p to £8.05 and another 15p rise will follow next year
England remains only country in UK where patients pay for prescriptions
They are currently free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Government said increase 'necessary to meet growing demands on NHS'

By Sophie Borland

PUBLISHED: 01:54, 12 March 2014 | UPDATED: 12:25, 12 March 2014








Patients in England will have to pay 20p more for their prescriptions starting next month, ministers have announced.

From 1 April, charges will go up from £7.85 to £8.05, and they will rise again to £8.20 the following year.

England remains the only country in the UK where patients still pay for prescriptions, which are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.




The Government said the increase was necessary to meet the growing demands on the NHS - its spending on drugs has more than doubled since 2000

But charities say the charges unfairly tax sick patients - particularly those with long-term conditions such as asthma, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and migraines who are on several drugs.

And senior pharmacists say some patients are having to choose between paying for drugs to alleviate pain or buying food and keeping their homes warm.




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They are also routinely being asked by frail patients whether there are any drugs they could possibly to without as they are unable to afford all those their GP has prescribed.

Announcing the increase yesterday, health minister Earl Howe said: ‘This government has made tough decisions to protect the NHS budget and increase it in real terms, but charges for some items remain an important source of revenue to support the delivery of high quality NHS services.

‘This is particularly important given the increasing demands on the NHS, with spending on medicines alone almost doubling since 2000.’

But Neal Patel, spokesperson from Royal Pharmaceutical Society said: ‘Prescription charges have risen for 34 of the past 35 years.

‘Many have to choose between paying for their medicine or household bills such as food and heating. They face medicines poverty because they have a lifelong illness they don’t want.’




Last week research carried out by the Prescription Charges Coalition - which represents 30 health charities - found that a third of patients had stopped taking drugs because they were too expensive.

The organisation - which surveyed 5,000 patients with long term conditions - also found that three quarters had to take time off work.

David Barker,chief executive of Crohn’s and Colitis UK, one of the charities represented by the organisation said: ‘These findings tell a heartbreaking story of people facing medicine-poverty because of the spiralling cost of their essential drugs.

‘Many are risking their health, and their ability to work, by having to make the impossible decision between taking their much-needed medicines to enable them to remain in employment, or putting food on the table for their families.

England is now the only country in the UK still making patients pay for prescriptions as there were abolished in Scotland in 2011 in Wales in 2007 and in Northern Ireland 2010.

It means that English patients are effectively subsiding free drugs for those living elsewhere in the UK.

But recent concerns over poor hospital care in Wales - in particular long waiting times - have been linked to the abolition of prescription charges.

A number of hospitals have high death rates and patients are waiting far longer for tests to diagnose cancer as well as in A&E.

Experts have said prescription charges are necessary to fund a high standard of NHS care.

Morning kitti......well I never knew England is still paying for prescriptions.!!!!! That's not fair is it, the problem is the NHS has become a Mammoth and having worked P/Time as a clerk I could see the waste which no-one is addressing.

This is just one small incident. I was given a letter to attend a morning session in another clinic on the other side of town regarding the lifting of patients, packaging, hygiene etc. and fill in a massive questionnaire. Since as a Receptionist I had nothing to do with this I wrote to the Manager and explained but she insisted I attend (for which I would be paid ) and she came to the Clinic to help me fill in the questionnaire, which took almost two hours and was nothing at all related to reception work. apparently it was all to do with receiving money from the Kings Fund which I knew nothing about.

Writing this reminded me of one of the Clinics I was working in and I think is funny. There was only one elderly couple with an appointment and after a while the Wife came up to me and said "He.s getting agitated because I havn't got the appointmnent card with me ,I am just going home to get it, would you keep your eye on him" I assured her I would although I couldn't see anything wrong with him.

About 10 minutes later I had my head down doing some writing up and a voice said "will this do?" When I looked up it was the husband and he had put his specs on the counter and I realised he was obviously an alzheimers Patient. I kept a straight face and said " no. thanks , your'e alright , wev'e got enough of those," and gave them back to him so he went back to his seat. I know you shouldn't mock the afflicted but it was odd.