§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what would be the estimated cost to his Department of exempting sufferers from cystic fibrosis over the age of 16 years from liability to pay prescription charges;
(2) how many sufferers from cystic fibrosis over the age of 16 years are known to his Department;
(3) whether he is currently considering including sufferers from cystic fibrosis over the age of 16 years in the list of exemptions from the payment of prescription charges;
(4) what are the criteria upon which a decision may be taken to exempt the sufferers from certain illnesses over the age of 16 years from the liability to pay prescription charges;
(5) whether consideration has been given in the past to exempting sufferers from cystic fibrosis over the age of 16 years from the liability to pay prescription charges; and, if so, when the matter was last considered.
§ Sir George YoungThere are probably fewer than a thousand sufferers from cystic fibrosis over the age of 16 years and the cost of exempting these from prescription charges would be very small.
The criteria for including a condition in the list of specified medical conditions which attract exemption from prescription charges have always been that it should be a permanent and clearly identifiable condition requiring continuous medication: most listed conditions require specific substitution therapy. The General Medical Services Committee, representing the medical profession, must be consulted and only if it agrees that a condition satisfies these criteria is it included 160W in the list. The list is kept under review and was last discussed with representatives of the medical profession in 1976, when cystic fibrosis was one of the conditions considered.