This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/6288663.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 1 | Version 2 |
---|---|
AMs vote for free prescriptions | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
Free prescriptions for everyone are to be introduced in Wales from 1 April following a vote in the Welsh assembly. | |
AMs voted by 39 to none to abolish the charges. Labour and Plaid Cymru supported the move while Conservatives and Liberal Democrats abstained. | |
The move was approved despite manufacturers earlier warning it could lead to drugs going to waste and funding for new medicines being lost. | |
It fulfils an assembly government pledge of free prescriptions by 2007. | |
Last year the price of prescriptions in Wales dropped from £4 to £3, while it rose to £6.65 in England. | Last year the price of prescriptions in Wales dropped from £4 to £3, while it rose to £6.65 in England. |
The Welsh Assembly Government has said the scheme, while is expected to cost £29.5m in the first year, will reduce patient inequality. | |
Quality of life | |
Welsh Health Minister Brian Gibbons said that free prescriptions would particularly benefit those people with chronic illnesses or on low incomes. | |
He said: "The main reason for providing free prescriptions was to ensure people are not put off getting medication they need due to cost. | |
"This will therefore enable those people who need medication to get it to improve their health and ultimately their quality of life." | |
Dr Gibbons said the scheme would remove unfairness surrounding the currently-used 1968 exemption system where a diabetes patient automatically gets all prescriptions free while a cystic fibrosis sufferer does not. | |
Patients registered with a Welsh GP or Welsh patients who have an English GP with an accompanying entitlement card who get their prescriptions from a Welsh pharmacist will not have to pay for their drugs from April. | |
'Detrimental impact' | |
Dr Gibbons stressed the free prescription policy only applies to prescribed drugs. | |
"Where patients already buy non-prescription medication over the counter they should continue to do so in the normal way," he said. | |
"If patients change their behaviour radically this could have a detrimental impact on the NHS as a whole and indirectly on those patients who are in most need of the free prescriptions." | |
Before Tuesday's vote the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said that if free prescriptions were introduced, demand for medicines may increase. | |
It also warned that there was a risk of drugs going to waste. | It also warned that there was a risk of drugs going to waste. |
Director Richard Greville said: "Increasing demand on the medicines budget will mean newer, more innovative medicines will be even more difficult to access for patients in Wales. | Director Richard Greville said: "Increasing demand on the medicines budget will mean newer, more innovative medicines will be even more difficult to access for patients in Wales. |
"We do hope that the government will ensure that there'll be appropriate funding for this new policy," he added. | "We do hope that the government will ensure that there'll be appropriate funding for this new policy," he added. |