26.03.14
£1.1bn cost of free Scottish prescriptions is ‘value for money’
Despite a rising bill for free prescriptions in Scotland the NHS is delivering “value for money”, Scottish health secretary Alex Neil has said.
NHS reimbursement and remuneration figures for prescribing medicines showed the gross total payments to Scottish dispensing contractors increased from £1.126bn in 2012 to £1.136bn in 2013, an increase of 0.9%.
Health secretary Alex Neil has argued that the number of items dispensed has risen by 1.9%, outstripping the rise in cost and demonstrating value for money.
He added that by abolishing prescription charges in Scotland, the government has restored one of the founding principles of the NHS – “that healthcare is based on clinical need and not the ability to pay”.
According to ISD Scotland figures, £22.4m was spent in the whole of 2013 on methadone fees, which includes supervisory payments to health professionals.
The actual cost of prescribing methadone increased by nearly £4m last year, which Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw MSP called “worrying”.
“It shows that far from trying to get people off it, too many are being parked on the drug with no proper plan for permanent recovery,” he said. “That doesn’t help the individual concerned, and is ultimately of no benefit to the taxpayer. Today’s figures also show an increase in the number of general prescriptions being given out.”
He stated that rather than delivering value for money, the free prescription policy is wasting taxpayer money. “By reintroducing a charge that most people were content to contribute, we’d be able to take the strain off hospital wards by investing in 1,000 additional nurses,” argued Carlaw.
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