§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what evaluation his Department has carried out of the awareness among people with severe asthma of the availability of pre-payment certificates for prescriptions; what steps are being taken to encourage general practitioners and pharmacists to promote the pre-payment scheme; and what assessment he has made of the benefits of the introduction of a weekly pre-payment stamp. [26815]
§ Mr. MaloneNo evaluation has been made, but we are aware of the research being carried out by the National Asthma Campaign and will be interested in the results. Information about the pre-payment certificates is available in the Department's new leaflet HC11 "Help with Health Costs", which is available from general practitioners, pharmacists and national health service trusts. All prescription forms refer to the availability of pre-payment certificates, as does a poster about NHS prescription charges which has been sent to all pharmacists.
We have no plans to introduce a weekly instalment system as this would be costly to administer and would as a result increase the overall cost of the pre-payment certificate. This would defeat the object of ensuring that pre-payment certificates are good value for money for those who need regular medication.