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Mr. Fearn
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the income for (i) pharmacists, (ii) dentists and (iii) opticians from National Health Service charges for each year from 1978–79.
Mr. Newton
The income from prescription charges collected by pharmacists and from patients' charges for general ophthalmic services for each year from 1978–79 is given in the table. There have been no charges to patients under the general ophthalmic service since National Health Service spectacles were discontinued from 1 July 1986.For the income received from dental charges paid by patients in recent years I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms. Harman) today.
| Year | Income from prescription charges England £million | Income from ophthalmic charges England £ million |
| 1978–79 | 23·2 | 25·5 |
| 1979–80 | 36·9 | 27·6 |
| 1980–81 | 67·6 | 28·9 |
| 1981–82 | 82·7 | 32·3 |
| 1982–83 | 97·9 | 38·1 |
| 1983–84 | 104·7 | 43·8 |
| 1984–85 | 114·8 | 44·1 |
| 1985–86 | 120·7 | 11·8 |
| 1986–87 | 140·2 | 0·8 |