02.03.11
Prescription charges to be abolished in Scotland from next month
Prescription charges are set to be finally abolished in Scotland.
The SNP made the pledge at the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, and has the backing of Labour MSPs. Charges have already been slowly shrunk to £3, less than half the £7.20 cost in England.
But the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said the money could be better spent elsewhere.
The abolition of the £3 charge needs health committee approval, but Labour and the SNP have the votes to push the reform through, despite the opposition of the one Lib Dem member and the Conservative health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon who has pledged to try to block it.
The charges will be abolished from April if the SNP gets the vote passed.
Outlining the plans at the SNP party conference in October, Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “Some have argued that in this financial climate, we should not go ahead with our plan to abolish prescription charges.
“Well, times are tight. But I believe, this government believes, that the last people who should be paying the price of Labour's economic mess are the sick.”
Wales and Northern Ireland have already removed NHS prescription charges.
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