The creeping privatisation of NHS prescribing

BMJ 1994;309:623-624 (10 September)

Editorials

The creeping privatisation of NHS prescribing

On 1 April this year the NHS prescription charge rose from poundssterling 4.25 to pounds sterling 4.75. This was an increaseof 11.8%, almost six times the rate of inflation, and the 16thrise in the prescription charge since 1979, producing a totalrise of over 2000%. A total of pounds sterling300m is raisedby prescription charges but the charge is paid for only onein five prescriptions. All the rest are provided to patientsin one or other of the exempt categories.¹ The burden of thisparticular form of indirect taxation is falling on a small minorityof health service users.

For some reason general practitioners responded to this particularrise in a way they had not done before: they began to issueprivate prescriptions to non-exempt patients whenever the costof the medicines was less than the prescription charge. Theywere supported in this by many community . . . [Full text of this article]

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