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Health Bill [HL]

Many Members of the Committee may be aware that I tried to introduce a similar amendment in the previous Health Bill and that I got a degree of support from all sides of the House. I place on the record how grateful I was to the Minister for her letter on this amendment. The notion behind reintroducing it is, first, to reduce the number of repeat prescriptions that must be prescribed and, secondly, to ensure that patients finish the course of prescribed drugs. Next, again, is the intention to emphasise the value for money that, by and large, most patients who have a prescription are getting. Something that I have loved about the House since becoming a Member nearly 20 years ago—only five Members of the Committee were here before me—is the tremendous learning curve that one goes on to. Since reintroducing the amendment, I have spoken to lots of general practitioners and pharmacists. I was rather shocked to discover that some prescribed drugs cost literally pennies, whereas others cost hundreds of pounds. I can understand the Government’s reluctance to have much sympathy with the amendment, but it crosses my mind that, if I were to bring it back on Report stating that any drug costing more than £10 would have to be clearly marked on the prescription, that would make it abundantly clear what fantastic value for money people in England get at £7.10 or in Scotland. I am sure that the Minister is aware that Scotland is about to do away with prescription charges at a cost of £65 million a year, which seems slightly extraordinary. I think that there is quite a strong case for looking at this again. I know that the noble Earl, Lord Howe, was initially quite supportive when I brought this issue back during the passage of the previous Health Bill. Like all these things, once you start digging into it, it seems extraordinary that some drugs are incredibly cheap and others are incredibly expensive. One of my colleagues outside the Committee asked me whether anyone was putting me up to this. No one is putting me up to it; my main reason for introducing this amendment is simply that I am convinced that it is a very good idea that people realise what they are getting for their prescription charge. I beg to move.