Call to scrap prescription charges

Prescription charges are a tax on illness, some doctors have said

Prescription charges are an "unfair tax on illness" and should be abolished, doctors have said.

They called on the Government in England to follow the example set in other parts of the UK and scrap the fees, which currently stand at £7.20 per item.

Prescription charges are being phased out in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and medicines are already free in Wales.

Doctors attending the British Medical Association's annual conference in Liverpool voted overwhelmingly in favour of asking England to follow suit.

Dr Shaukat Ali, who works in Greenwich and Bexley in south east London, proposed the motion, describing the charges as "unfair" and "unjust".

Patients who could not afford all the drugs on their prescription sometimes only bought one, which was "potentially harmful", he said.

A total of 88% of prescriptions in England are dispensed free of charge, Dr Ali said, adding: "Why should the remaining 12% pay the full charge?"

Speaking against the motion, Dr Hal Maxwell, a GP from Ayrshire in Scotland, said some patients asked their GP for aspirin and paracetamol despite the fact they could buy them easily and cheaply over the counter.

BMA chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum supported the motion, saying that if people agreed with the argument about value, did that mean the value of a heart transplant was nil?

He said there was a need to educate the public about the value of their drugs, adding: "This is not an argument for supporting an unfair tax on illness, which is what prescription charges have become."