NHS Charges

Norman Lamb Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)]

My hon. Friend Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, Earl Howe, has made the following written ministerial statement:

Regulations have been laid before the House to increase certain national health service charges in England from 1 April 2014.

This Government have made tough decisions to protect the NHS budget and increase it in real terms, but charges for some items remain an important source of revenue to support the delivery of high-quality NHS services. This is particularly important given the increasing demands on the NHS, with spending on medicines alone almost doubling since 2000.

Over 90% of prescription items are dispensed free. This includes extensive exemptions from charging for people on low incomes, such as those on specific benefits or through the NHS low-income scheme. We want to ensure that, of those who pay, people with the greatest need are protected, such as those with long-term conditions. As such, we have decided to freeze the costs of both prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) for the next two years. This means the price of the 12-month PPC has been frozen for the lifetime of this Parliament. The three-month certificate will therefore remain at £29.10 this year and next, and the cost of the annual certificate will remain at £104.

This year, we have increased the single prescription charge by 20p from £7.85 to £8.05 for each medicine or appliance dispensed. We also intend to increase the charge by 20p to £8.25 in the following year.

The regulations will also increase NHS dental charges from 1 April 2014. The dental charge payable for a band one course of treatment will increase by 50p from £18 to £18.50. The dental charge for a band 2 course of treatment will increase by £1.50 from £49 to £50.50. The charge for a band 3 course of treatment will increase by £5 from £214 to £219.

Dental charges represent an important contribution to the overall cost of dental services. The exact amount raised will be dependent upon the level and type of primary dental care services commissioned by NHS England and the proportion of charge paying patients who attend dentists and the level of treatment they require.



Charges will also be increased, by an overall 2.7%, for wigs and fabric supports.

The range of NHS optical vouchers available to children, people on low incomes and individuals with complex sight problems are also being increased in value. In order to continue to provide help with the cost of spectacles and contact lenses, optical voucher values will rise by an overall 2%.

Details of the revised charges are in the following tables.