§ Mr. KeenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the categories of illnesses currently exempt from prescription costs.
§ Mr. MalonePeople are exempt from national health service prescription charges if they hold a valid exemption certificate issued by a family health services authority on the grounds that they have one or more of the following medical conditions–
Permanent fistula, including caecostomy, colostomy, laryngostomy, ileostomy or urostomy, requiring continuous surgical dressings or an appliance;Forms of hypoadrenalism, including Addison's disease, for which specific substitution therapy is essential;Diabetes insipidus and other forms of hypopituitarism;Diabetes mellitus except where treatment is by diet alone;Hypoparathyroidism;Myasthenia gravis;Myxoedema, or other conditions where supplemental thyroid hormone is necessary;Epilepsy requiring continuous anti-convulsive therapy;A continuing physical disability which prevents the patient from leaving home except with the help of another person.