Prescription Costs (Hansard, 13 March 1995)

§ Baroness Cumberlege:

Although we believe it is right that patients should be more aware of the cost 36WA of medicines generally, we do not believe the benefit to be gained from printing on each prescription the actual costs of medicines dispensed would warrant the costs of introducing such a measure. Apart from the fact that patients do not retain their prescription forms once they have been presented to the pharmacist (they are used by the Prescription Pricing Authority as the basis for reimbursing pharmacists), a number of major practical problems would need to be overcome. For example, the costs of particular items vary between dispensers depending on the source of the supply and the discount obtained and, furthermore, the actual cost to the National Health Service would not be available to the pharmacist at the time at which the item was dispensed.