Prescription Charges

In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, patients are required to pay a charge for any medication prescribed for them by a doctor. In Wales, all NHS patients registered with a Welsh GP are entitled to free prescriptions. Welsh residents who visit a doctor in England will need an entitlement card to prove that they can claim prescribed medicine free of charge; however, the prescription and entitlement card should be taken to a Welsh pharmacy.

If you require an NHS prescription you will be charged at the relevant rate. However, many people are exempt from paying these charges. If, at the time your prescription is dispensed, you fall into one of the following categories, you should be exempt from charges:

• You are under 16

• You are aged between 16 and 18 and in full-time education

• You are over 60

• You are pregnant or have given birth to a baby in the last 12 months

• You have a specified medical condition and a valid exemption certificate

• You have an ongoing physical disability which makes you dependent on another person

• You or your partner receive income support, or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance

Some medication will always be supplied free of charge, to anyone:

• Prescribed contraceptives

• Medication administered at a hospital or NHS walk-in centre

• Medication personally administered by a GP

• Medication supplied at a hospital or Primary Care Trust clinic for the treatment of a sexually transmittable infection
  
  

If you are uncertain whether or not you need to pay prescription charges, you should ask your doctor for guidance.


* Prescription charges are to be abolished in Northern Ireland. The charges were reduced in January 2009 and will no longer exist by April 2010.

** Prescription charges are soon to be abolished in Scotland. The charges are being reduced each year and will no longer exist from April 2011.