Prescription Charges (Hansard, 13 February 1992)

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

I shall shortly lay before the House regulations providing for increases in prescription charges in the National Health Service in England and Wales which will take effect on 1 April 1992. The prescription charges will increase by 35p from £3.40 to £3.75 for each quantity of a drug or appliance dispensed. Spectacle vouchers—which are available to people on low incomes—go up by 9.5 per cent.

Concurrently regulations are being laid by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland to increase the charges in Scotland by the same amount. Similar arrangements will apply in Northern Ireland.

The new charge will continue to represent less than half the average total cost of a single prescription item to the NHS. The existing wide-ranging exemption arrangements will remain unchanged. Rates for prepayment certificates will rise in line with the increase in prescription charges. A prescription charge is now paid on about one item in six dispensed in the NHS. When the Government took office, 606W one item in three attracted a charge. In 1990–91. the drugs bill was nearly £2.1 billion. The increase will raise about £240 million for the NHS.

Charges for elastic stockings and tights, fabric supports and wigs supplied through the hospital service will also be increased from 1 April 1992 by a similar percentage to the rise in the prescription charge.

There is no change to the proportional charge—75 per cent.—for general dental services. However the maximum charge will be raised to £225 with effect from 1 April 1992.

I am pleased to announce that as from 1 April 1992 the overall value of optical vouchers will increase by 9.5 per cent. I have also, in response to representations increased the number of voucher bands from six to eight so as to reflect more accurately the range of manufacturer's wholesale prices.

The result of these changes will be that the majority of voucher holders will find themselves considerably better off. In particular, the value of voucher A, the commonest voucher, will increase by 20.3 per cent.; voucher B will increase by 20.1 per cent.; and users requiring complex single vision lenses will find the value of their voucher increased by 104.1 per cent.

I am also pleased to announce that from 1 April 1992 charges made to patients for the use of oxygen concentrators in the home will be discontinued.