09.10.12
Free prescriptions ‘costing lives’ – Scottish Tories
The free prescription policy in Scotland is paid for with patients’ lives, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has suggested.
Speaking at the Tory party conference, she highlighted other areas of the NHS in Scotland which were being deprived of funding, including cuts to nursing and midwifery posts, and the lack of a cancer drugs fund like the one in England.
Davidson said: “It's well known across the UK there are free prescriptions in Scotland. What it doesn't tell you is what that costs us. In the last few years we have seen the number of nurses and midwives reduced by thousands.
“The people in Scotland are practically paying with their lives for this policy because in England and Wales they have access to the cancer drugs fund, so people with rarer cancers can be treated for that, they can have lives extended.
“It may not make a difference to a huge number of people but to the people it makes a difference to, my God it makes a huge difference and we don't have that in Scotland.”
Later she told a fringe event at the Tory conference: “The free prescription costs take money away from other parts of health spending. One of the contentions we in Scotland have had is that money could be used elsewhere within the health service.
“One of the things which we would like to see is a cancer drugs fund for Scotland. One exists in England, people with rare cancers can get access to drugs which aren't in the market through Nice (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) through using this race cancer drugs fund.
“We have been asking Alex Salmond for this for some time, we estimate that it would cost around the £10m mark for Scotland to have a comparable fund to that of England.
“It’s about using the money that we lose by giving free prescriptions to other people better within the health service budget. We believe that's one of the ways in which it can happen, we believe that will have an impact on lives.”
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]
Image c. www.freeimages.co.uk