Bill keeps rising for free prescriptions, say Welsh Conservatives

The cost of Labour’s universal free prescriptions policy continues to rise, with almost £600 million spent on prescriptions in 2015 according to figures published today.

Total spend on the prescriptions reached a record-breaking £593.7m last year, compared to just £410.4m in the year that universal free prescriptions were first introduced in 2000.

The new data has led to calls from the Welsh Conservatives for “an urgent review” of the free prescriptions policy, with Wales now prescribing the more items per head in any part of the UK.

Wales dispensed the highest number of prescription items per head across the UK in 2015: 25.7 compared to 21.6 in Northern Ireland, 20.0 in England and 19.0 in Scotland.

Meanwhile, paracetamol was dispensed to Welsh NHS patients almost 1.5m times last year at a cost of £5.1m [at a cost of £3.51 per item] – despite being freely available at some high street pharmacists for just 26 pence per 500mg pack.

Other figures include:

• £2.4m spent in 2015 prescribing Ibuprofen [676,924 items]
• £1.9m spent prescribing aspirin [2,259,655 items]
• The net ingredient cost of all prescriptions dispensed in the community has increased by 3.5% since 2014, to £593.7 million in 2015.

Commenting on the figures, Welsh Conservative AM – Darren Millar – said:

“There is no such thing as a free prescription, taxpayers are picking up the tab. The last five years have seen Labour’s universal free prescriptions policy spiral out of control and it is clear that the Welsh Government needs to instigate an urgent review of the policy.

“Whilst Welsh NHS services were being starved of vital resources due to Labour’s record-breaking budget cuts in the previous Assembly term, the cost of dispensing paracetamol and other inexpensive over the counter medicines continues to grow unabated.

“It’s not right that millionaires get free prescriptions in Wales while cancer patients are sometimes denied the drugs that they need.”