The United Kingdom’s Department of Health announced yesterday that all patients being treated for cancer will become eligible to receive free prescriptions of their drugs through the National Health Service as of April 1 this year. Currently, patients pay a prescription fee of £7.10 for each prescription that needs to be filled.
This elimination of the prescription fee is expected to benefit up to 150,000 people already diagnosed with cancer, the government said.
Under the plan, patients “undergoing treatment for cancer, the effects of cancer, or the effects of cancer treatment” will be eligible to apply for certificates giving them a 5-year exemption from prescription fees and free access to all NHS drugs. It appears that the initiative would be funded by reducing NHS drug costs, including making greater use of generic products and increasing bulk purchases.
While The “New” Prostate Cancer InfoLink applauds this initiative in the UK, we would also caution that if this initiative comes with a reduction in access to important new agents, or delays in the ability to use new agents until it is past the time when they might be expected to have the most efficacy, we will simply be ”robbing Peter to pay Paul,” which will not be in the interests of the patients in most need of innovative therapeutic opportunities.
Filed under: Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Treatment Tagged: | cost, drug, prescription
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