Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

And to be fair to the current government, it was Labour back in 1997 giving us devolution that allowed this to happen.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

This is quite bizarre.

This is the NHS. We will pay for those prescriptions either on collection or via taxation, one way or the other they have to be paid for. Personally I think it entirely appropriate that those who are in a position to pay are charged.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

But it gets to the stage where those who are in a position to pay, are no better off than those who can't.
after paying for everything.

it's like say rent. people who are working pay full rent because they work. by the time that's been spent they can and could have the same amount of money left that someone who gets the rent free has.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

Given that that money has to either come from users of services or from taxation you just made a case for cutting the state there Gary :)

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

I know. that's why I'd make a good PM :)

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

Well here we go again, the bloody Scots get it Scot free while those of us south of the border get a rise in the cost. Once again if the Scotish want devolution put up a brick bloody wall and find your own income rather than sponging off of your brothers south of the border.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

I am one of the people who get them for free because of my medical exemption due to a chronic illness, but I am still annoyed that our parliament lets us pay when it allows the likes of Scotland to give them for free as my taxes go towards that as does every other UK tax payer.:mad:

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

But us scots have it better than devolution, our own decisions our own heritage, our own flag and a nice chunk of money from the English :d

Also don't forget about our free education :)

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

Exactly we are in reality one country as we have no borders and the majority of funding is from English taxes.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

IIRC, due to all the various exemptions, the vast majority of prescriptions in England are issued free of charge.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

The are still many like my wife who has high blood pressure who has to pay for a yearly card because she is on 3 tablets a day which would cost around £24 a month.

She will be on them for life but it is not classed as chronic so she has to pay which is a ridiculous state of affairs.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

Maybe if your passing Gretna you could stock up :)

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

We get charged even in Scotland as we are not residents.:erm:

I was married there.;)

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

As said: The Scots decided to have free subscriptions. That's money spent and out of their budget meaning it can't be spent elsewhere. It's not as if they get additional funds for free subscriptions. It's how they choose to allocate the money they've been given to spend.

As Russ suggested, you may well find that a poorer general standard of service as a result of it.

Re: England prescription charges to rise
 

Unfortunately we have no say over where our taxes get allocated and to do so would be impractical anyway. But you'd think people were used to this anyway - I think the idea of car tax going on the maintenance of roads is pretty much a fallacy to most these days.

Like it or not the Welsh and Scots are able to have funding in departments that aren't applicable to the English. Don't like it? Fine, let's swap. You get to have free prescriptions, we get a government that has the power to make decisions that affect and change the whole of the UK.

In any case, blame Labour for granting the right to devolve.