A Suffolk MP has backed calls for a review into how free prescriptions are administered by the NHS after one of the county’s GPs said more people should pay for their medication.
James Cartlidge, MP for South Suffolk, said a debate was needed on whether the NHS could continue spending millions of pounds on giving free drugs to patients, which they could buy cheaply themselves from a pharmacy or supermarket.
His comments were made in response to a story in yesterday’s EADT in which John Havard, a senior partner at Saxmundham Health, called for most free prescriptions to be scrapped to save money for the health service, which is struggling financially.
Mr Cartlidge said he was particularly concerned about the amount of money spent prescribing easily available drugs such as paracetamol, which prompted him to table a written parliamentary question to the Department of Health about the costs involved.
The response, which came back last week, was that the NHS spent nearly £85million on paracetamaol in England last year – an increase of around £11m since 2012/13. Mr Cartlidge said it was a “huge amount when one considers how cheaply any of us can buy paracetamol for in a local supermarket”.
“I certainly welcome the recent coverage by the EADT on this subject and the comments of local GPs drawing attention to this, because I strongly believe that we need to have an urgent local, regional and national conversation about how we pay for the NHS and what we prioritise,” he added.
“Certainly, I think we have to seriously ask whether the best part of £100m should be spent on cheaply available common painkillers when that could be used for something more uniquely beneficial and not easily funded such as research into brain tumours.”
The NHS in Suffolk alone spent more than £1m on paracetamol last year, as part of a £3.5m total spent prescribing common conditions, such as dry eyes, allergies and diarrhoea.
Health commissioners in the county said the issue was a “big concern”.
The Ipswich and East Suffolk and West Suffolk clinical commissioning groups were out on the streets of Suffolk this summer asking for views on how the NHS could save money. A spokesman for the CCGs said “this was the most talked-about issue, with people saying they were prepared to pay for things like pain relief gels, indigestion and heartburn treatments”.
A poll on the EADT’s website also found support for the proposals, with 65% of respondents agreeing that more people should pay a small fee for their prescriptions.
Under the current system, less than 10% of patients pay for their NHS prescriptions.
Dr Havard said that the introduction of a small fee of 50p-£1, up to a monthly maximum of no more than £5, might make people consider whether they really need the drugs.
Published by the EADT.