Prescriptions: Fees and Charges
(asked on 19th March 2015) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the change in prescription charges has been in real terms in each year since 2009-10.
Information is provided in the table.
Annual prescription charge increase per item dispensed, in England, in real terms, 2009 to 2015 | |||||||
| 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator: year on year growth (%) | 2.6 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
Prescription charge per item dispensed (£) | 7.20 | 7.20 | 7.40 | 7.65 | 7.85 | 8.05 | 8.20 |
Increase in prescription charge (%) | - | 0.0 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
Real increase in prescription charge (%) | - | -2.7 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.5
|
The GDP deflators for 2014/15 and 2015/16 are based on Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts published in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (March 2015)
The cost of a three-month Prescription Pre-payment Certificate (PPC) has been frozen since 2011/12 and the 12-month PPC has been frozen since 2009/10. 90% of items are dispensed free.