Scottish Government

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Single prescriptions now £3

01/04/2010

A further reduction of prescription charges for people in Scotland came into effect today.

This is the last reduction before prescription medication becomes free for everyone in April 2011.

The new charges are:

• £3 for a single prescription item
• £10 for a 4 month Prescription Pre-payment Certificate (PPC)
• £28 for a 12 month PPC

This latest drop in charges means that Scots who buy annual PPCs will save a total of £180 each since the reduction in costs was introduced.

Minister for Public Health Shona Robison said:

"In these tough economic times, hundreds of thousands of people are already better off thanks to our action and they will continue to be better off as we move to full abolition.

"Healthcare should be free at the point of access for everyone - this is the founding principle of the NHS. Removing the prescription charge will ensure that cost is not a barrier to those needing to take the medication prescribed to them.

"A year on year increase in Prescription Pre-payment Certificate sales prove that this policy is helping even more patients, particularly those with long term conditions and others who require the greatest number of prescription items."

Sally Greig, from Fife, who lives with eczema, said:

"I have to buy cream, inhalers, steroid ointments and anti-histamines for my eczema so when prescriptions were £6.85 per item it was really expensive for me.

"The reduction in prescription charges has changed the way I use these medicines. In the past I would scrimp on them, sometimes using creams that were out of date or not getting as much as I needed but I don't do that now.

"The reduced cost has also allowed me to take my Doctor's advice and try different kinds of treatments to see what works best for my skin. It can be a trial and error process and I wouldn't have done that when prescriptions were more expensive.

"I am glad that the cost of prescriptions has been reduced again and am looking forward to all medicines becoming free for everyone next year. I have already saved money and this is set to continue."

This latest reduction in charges will be further publicised through poster and leaflet advertising detailing the newly reduced charges.

Patients who buy annual PPCs will have saved £50 and £60, respectively, each year since the policy was introduced. They will save a further £70 when they buy their PPC from today. That represents a total of £180 over these three years.

In the last financial year there were 408,000 PPC sales. This is an increase from 169,000 PPC sales in 2007-08.

There are around 600,000 adults living in families in Scotland with an annual income of less than £16,000 who are not entitled to free prescriptions.

In December 2007 the Scottish Government announced its decision to abolish prescription charges for all patients in Scotland from April 2011.

The phasing out of charges is following the planned approach shown below: