Patients hit by prescription move

Prescriptions are free in Wales and are being phased out in Scotland

A health authority's move to stop patients wasting medication by issuing smaller amounts with each prescription is unfair, a patient group has said.

NHS Leicester City has advised GPs to limit most prescriptions to 28 days.

But Leicester Patients Group said asking patients to pay the £7.10 fee more often is too costly.

The health authority said unused drugs cost it more than £5.15m in 2006-07, but that cost dropped to £2.6m in 2007-08.

Zuffar Haq, chairman of Leicester Patient's Group, said: "It is costing them (patients) more money because every medication costs £7.10 - previously they were getting prescriptions for three months but now for one month.

"So they are paying £7.10 for a third of the medication they were getting before.

"With the current credit crunch we have heard of cases where people have not taken their medicine because they simply cannot afford the medication."

Local decision

Since early 2008, the PCT has encouraged GPs to ensure patients do not get more than 28 days worth of medication to reduce wastage.

Leicester GP Angela Lennox has supported the move but added that GPs need to be flexible and take personal circumstances into consideration.

She said: "There is not one size fits all. But the vast majority of people do not pay for prescriptions."

The Department of Health said clinicians have responsibility for the prescriptions they issue to their patients and it would be for local PCTs to issue any guidance on this matter.

The department said 88% of prescription items were already dispensed free of charge.

Lesley Gant, senior pharmacist at NHS Leicester Trust, said: "We are constantly looking at ways to deliver better and more effective patient care. Unused medicines around the home can be dangerous, especially if there are children in the home.

"Wasted medicines means wasted money. They can't be used again and if we could save some of that money we could reinvest it in other areas of healthcare," she added.

A PCT spokesperson added people who have to pay for more than three prescription items in three months, or 14 items in 12 months could save money by buying a prescription prepayment certificate. The charge for a single prescription item is £7.00, but a three-month PPC will cost £27.85 and a 12-month PPC £102.50.

Prescription charges have been scrapped in Wales and are in the process of being phased out in Scotland.