GPs say changing free prescription age is a 'silly idea' and could affect how they prescribe
'This change could discourage patients who are financially less well-off from managing their health proactively'
GPs say ‘any increase to the current free prescription age of 60 would disproportionately affect a large group of patients who are on low incomes’ (Photo: Getty)
GPs who are already at breaking point fear patients who cannot pay for their prescriptions will visit their doctor when their health problems “are far worse”.
One leading GP told i she was worried about possibly having to prescribe medication based on what her patients can afford, adding that it was a “really silly idea” to save money.
“Any increase to the current free prescription age of 60 would disproportionately affect a large group of patients who are on low incomes but just above the threshold for financial help with the costs of their medication,” said Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the RCGP.
“Many patients are already waiting longer for treatment or will have seen their health deteriorate as a result of the challenges over the last two years. This change could discourage patients who are financially less well-off from managing their health proactively, and could mean that they present to general practice when their problems are far worse, at a time when general practice is already at breaking point.”
Prof Marshall added: “We urge Government to reconsider these proposals.”
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has not yet come to a decision on the proposals but there is speculation any changes could be implemented from April. One of the options being considered by the Government is to continue giving free prescriptions to current 60 to 65-year-olds.
Allowing fewer older people to claim free prescriptions would generate more money for frontline NHS services – £600m was raised in England in 2019. Payment exemptions would continue for people on low incomes or with certain conditions, while patients in need of regular medication could save money by signing up to the prepayment service.
Dr Helen Salisbury, a GP in Oxford and member of Independent Sage, said it was “a really silly idea to save any money”.
“Money spent on medicines to keep people well is incredibly well spent. It’s a really good investment in people. And it’s very clear that lots of people who wouldn’t qualify for free prescriptions would struggle to pay for them and would end up not taking the medicines they need.”
‘It makes no sense to me at all’
Dr Helen Salisbury, a GP, does not support the proposals to increase the free prescription age (Photo: Helen Salisbury)
“Many of the medicines that we prescribe are things that keep people well. They’re medicines for high blood pressure, which stop them having heart problems or strokes in later life,” said Dr Salisbury, a senior medical education fellow at Oxford University.
“It’s such a false economy to try and save money by getting people to pay for them because some of them just won’t take them at that point, and then they’ll be sicker and they’ll leave the workforce or they’ll just spend more time in hospital.
“If the Government has the money, what else should we be spending on than keeping our population well? It makes no sense to me at all. I think patients would be very, very upset. But actually, there’s been so much else clamouring for people’s attention in the news, I think most patients don’t realise that this is on the table.
“There are lots and lots of people who are not in receipt of benefits, and therefore don’t qualify for free prescriptions… If you give them a prescription with three or four items on it, that’s a very large chunk of a week’s disposable income… And you can quite imagine that somebody will say, ‘Well, I’ll take this one, but I’ll not get that one yet. I’ll get that one next week when I’ve got some more income.’
“I think you may end up having the sort of conversations which I really don’t like to have, which are, ‘Ideally I’d like to give you these three things, can you afford three prescription charges?’ And then having to tailor my prescribing according to what the patient can afford… I really, really don’t want to move towards a system where my medicine has to be limited by what the individual patient in front of me can afford.”
The DHSC said: “Around 90 per cent of community prescription items in England are free of charge, and people don’t pay if they are on a low income, over 60, or have certain medical conditions.
“The upper age exemption has not changed since 1995 and that is why we have consulted on restoring the link between this and the state pension age. We are considering the responses carefully and will respond in due course.”
