Everyday across England, people with long-term conditions are faced with the difficult choice between buying food, turning on their heating or paying for their medication; which is why we’re calling on the government to make prescription charges free for everyone with long-term conditions.
Many people with CKD who are on dialysis do qualify for free prescriptions, but those lucky enough to have had a transplant no longer qualify. Dialysis and transplants are not cures for kidney disease - they are treatments, so once you have had a transplant you are faced with a lifetime of costly immunosuppressant medications.
Prescriptions are currently charged at £8.60 per item which is set to increase to £8.80 in April. For people that require several medications a month the cost is an enormous burden to bear. A third of people told the PCC that they have not collected a prescription due to the cost. This can result in avoidable GP and hospital visits and more importantly it can have a severe impact on their health.
Shockingly, the list of conditions that do not pay for prescriptions will be 50 years old in June, and remains largely unchanged in England. To mark its anniversary, the PCC are launching a petition calling on the government to update it to include all people with long-term conditions. We've added our name to this - will you?
Sign the petition here