Although charges usually increase yearly in line with inflation, the DH announced yesterday (May 15) that no further changes would be made to prescription fees this year.

The DH hopes this decision will keep prescription medication “accessible” on top of saving an estimated “£17 million overall” for patients in England paying these charges.

Single prescription charges will stay priced at £9.35, and three and 12-month prescription prepayment certificates will cost patients £30.25 and £108.10 respectively, as they did in 2021.

The prescription charge freeze will “put money back in people’s pockets”, health secretary Sajid Javid said.

“The rise in the cost of living has been unavoidable as we face global challenges and the repercussions of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine,” he explained.

“While we cannot completely prevent these rises, where we can help, we absolutely will,” Mr Javid said.

DH deliberated on prescription fees

While C+D first reported in March that prescription charges had not risen for the first time in 12 years, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) warned at the time that the government was still considering potential price increases and might hike up the fees after April.

PSNC wrote on its website at the end of last month that – as the government had “yet to conclude consideration of any future increases to prescription charges” – prescription charges would remain fixed “while further consideration is given”.

Free prescription eligibility remains the same

The groups eligible to access prescriptions free of charge, including those aged 60 and over, will remain the same.

The government launched a consultation last year that proposed raising the upper age exemption for prescription charges to 66 to align with the state pension age.

In its consultation document, the DH wrote that almost 63% of the 1.1 billion items dispensed in 2018 were given “free of charge because the patient was aged 60 or over”.

In yesterday’s announcement, Mr Javid also stated that the “government and NHS [are] working to tackle the COVID-19 backlogs while reforming routine care services, ending long waits and improving patient care”.