Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of women qualifying for free prescriptions who have requested prescriptions for sanitary products from their GP.
The Department has made no such estimate. Products allowable on a National Health Service prescription should be for the treatment of a medical condition, which can include diagnosis and prevention. This does not include items that could be considered more appropriate for the social care of an individual e.g. incontinence pads or sanitary products.