The current prescription charging system could seriously undermine the aims of the government's new white paper to make healthcare services more accessible to people who need them most, MPs heard last week.

The charges are likely to hinder attempts to make the health service better at helping groups of people who currently find it difficult to get the right health care, such as people in underserved deprived areas, witnesses told the health select committee as part of its continuing inquiry into NHS charges.

Witnesses were asked how the present system of prescription charges affected the policy set out in the …