Dental charges to go up in England
Ministers have confirmed that prescription fees and dental charges will increase, just days after it was revealed that dental charges will be frozen in Wales and prescription charges will be scrapped in Scotland.
The announcement has been greeted with anger, with many people questioning the equality of a different fee scale for different parts of the UK. Ministers confirmed that prescription charges in England will increase by 20p to £7.40 per item from the 1st April; dental charges will also increase, with band 1 treatments going up to £17, band 2 treatments increasing to £47 and band treatments going up to £204.
England is now the only country in the UK where prescriptions are not free; most people pay will have to pay £7.40 per item, while patients in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland get their prescriptions for free. Dental charges are also higher in England; ministers in Wales have recently announced that dental fees will be frozen for the sixth consecutive year.
The British Medical Association has criticised the price increase, claiming that the increase amounts to a tax on the sick. Sue Sharpe, from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, also condemned the news, saying that people from low income families may struggle to get the medication they need.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Health said that the government was investing an additional 10.7 billion pounds in the NHS and claimed that abolishing prescription charges in England would leave a shortfall in NHS funding of 450 million pounds per year.
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why isnt there any minister doing there job to help the uk.why should we be footing the bill for scotland and now wales.its a shambles.should we all move to scotland