§ 5. Mr. Nichollsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received about charges for medication for those suffering from heart diseases; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonSince 1 January 1986 we have received 12 letters from hon. Members and three letters from members of the public about prescription charges for those suffering from heart disease.
§ Mr. NichollsDoes my hon. Friend think it is fair that if a doctor chooses to treat a cardiac patient by surgery that operation and the back-up services are completely free, while if he decided to treat it medically the prescription charges have to be paid? Surely if it is possible to argue in favour of free needles for drug abusers, it should be possible in these circumstances to give free prescriptions to cardiac patients.
§ Mr. NewtonI hesitate to accept the proposition that any patient suffering from a condition that might give rise to a need for an operation should automatically receive free prescriptions in advance. I also hesitate to accept the parallel that my hon. Friend seeks to draw with some experimental projects designed to find out whether we can by that means help to curb the spread of the awful disease of AIDS.
§ Dr. M. S. MillerIn view of all the difficulties which arise, the various groups, and the number of people who do not pay prescription charges, would it not be better to consider the possibility of eliminating such charges altogether?
§ Mr. NewtonThe hon. Gentleman must acknowledge that prescription charges and the charges for the season tickets raise well over £100 million a year, which is an important contribution to the NHS budget, so I do not think that I wish to go down that track.