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Health Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Palmer, has made an extremely powerful case with which I find myself immediately in sympathy. It is one of life’s truths that what we do not have to pay for we do not value. We have all benefited during our lives from the National Health Service. I am quite sure that we have all appreciated the treatment that we have received. But the noble Lord is right: we would appreciate it all the more if only we were made aware of the cost of the treatment for which the taxpayer was picking up the bill. Many people would be shocked if they knew what their medicines cost. Some drugs, as the noble Lord mentioned, are expensive in most people’s terms. However, some drugs cost less than the prescription charge. It would undoubtedly benefit us all if patients of the NHS were to be more cost conscious. Like the noble Lord, I strongly suspect that there would be far less wastage and far greater rates of compliance. I am told that 50 per cent of prescribed medicines are never taken, which is a huge rate of wastage. I should be most interested to hear what the Minister has to say in response to the noble Lord’s very cogent arguments.