Do you think prescription charges should be abolished in England?

Let us know your thoughts on prescription charges and whether you think they should be abolished in England.

Patients might appreciate their medicines and use them properly if they paid. But how much?

I feel that 20p is too low. What can you buy for 20p nowadays? We risk putting them on a par with a Freddo bar of chocolate!

And patients who currently don't pay will see this as another stealth tax!

No scheme is perfect!

Most pharmacists who see the appalling waste of medicines feel there should be some disincentive to re-ordering them unnecessarily and a charge of whatever magnitude is about the only sanction there is. We all know that spoilt children who are given everything they ask for learn to not appreciate the cost of things. This definitely applies to exempt NHS patients. Recently I had FIVE out of date Seretide 250 Evohalers returned (about £300 in total at Drug Tariff price) but was assured by the patient that all was well as they still had two at home that were in date!!

However, charging will never happen as there would be such an outcry if all the patients currently exempt from levies had to pay even a small amount that whatever political party voted it in would be out at the next election. Hence the trend to the Scottish and Welsh abolishment of levies.

What I would like to see is DOOP being returned to doctors rather than pharmacies as I'm fairly sure doctors don't have a clue as to the magnitude of the waste of what they prescribe.