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NHS: Charges

Volume 708: debated on Thursday 5 March 2009

Statement

My right honourable friend the Minister of State, Department of Health (Dawn Primarolo) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

Regulations have today been laid before Parliament to increase National Health Service charges in England from 1 April 2009. There will be an increase in the prescription charge of 10p from £7.10 to £7.20 for each quantity of a drug or appliance dispensed.

The cost of a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) will rise to £28.25 for a three-month certificate and to £104.00 for an annual certificate. PPCs offer savings for those needing four or more items in three months or more than 14 in one year.

Prescription charges are currently expected to raise some £435 million for the NHS in 2009-10. This figure excludes prescription charges collected by dispensing doctors, which are not collected centrally, but remain with primary care trusts.

Charges for elastic stockings and tights, wigs and fabric supports supplied through hospitals will be increased similarly.

Regulations have also been laid to increase certain NHS dental charges, and increase the value of NHS optical vouchers, from 1 April 2009.

The dental charge payable for a band one course of treatment will increase by 30p from £16.20 to £16.50. The dental charge for a band 2 course of treatment will increase by £1 from £44.60 to £45.60. The charge for a band 3 course of treatment will remain at £198.

Dental charges are expected to raise between £6 million to £700 million for the NHS in 2009-10. The exact amount will be dependent upon the level and type of primary dental care services commissioned by primary care trusts, the proportion of charge-paying patients who attend dentists and the levels of treatment they require.

This annual adjustment to dental charge rates is intended to sustain the expected contribution to the overall cost of dental services from patient charge income.

The NHS optical vouchers available to children, people on low incomes and individuals with complex sight problems are also being increased in value. In order to continue to provide help with the cost of spectacles or contact lenses, optical voucher values will rise by an overall 2 per cent.

NHS charges and optical voucher values in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved Administrations.

Details of the revised charges for prescription items, appliances, dental charges and optical voucher values are as follows.

Increases in prescription charges from April 2009

Item

Current Charges

New charges

Prescription per item

£7.10

£7.20

12-month PPC

£102.50

£104.00

3-month PPC

£27.85

£28.25

Surgical brassiere

£24.00

£24.35

Abdominal or spinal support

£36.30

£36. 80

Stock modacrylic wig

£59.20

£60.00

Partial human hair wig

£156.60

£158.90

Full bespoke human hair wig

£229.05

£232.45

NHS Dental Charges

Course of dental treatment

Current Charge

From 1 April 2009

Band 1

£16.20

£16.50

Band 2

£44.60

£45.60

Band 3

£198

£198

Increase in optical voucher values from 1 April 2009

Type of optical appliance

1 April 08

1 April 09

A: Glasses with single vision lenses: spherical power of = 6 dioptres, cylindrical power of = 2 dioptres.

£35.50

£36.20

B: Glasses with single vision lenses: spherical power of > 6 dioptres but < 10 dioptres, cylindrical power of = 6 dioptres; spherical power of < 10 dioptres, cylindrical power of > 2 dioptres but =  6 dioptres.

£54.00

£55.10

C: Glasses with single vision lenses: spherical power of = 10 dioptres but = 14 dioptres, cylindrical power of = 6 dioptres.

£79.00

£80.60

D: Glasses with single vision lenses: spherical power of >14 dioptres with any cylindrical power—cylindrical power of > 6 dioptres with any spherical power.

£178.40

£182.00

E: Glasses with bifocal lenses: spherical power of = 6 dioptres, cylindrical power of = 2 dioptres.

£61.40

£62.70

F: Glasses with bifocal lenses: spherical power of > 6 dioptres but < 10 dioptres, cylindrical power of = 6 dioptres—spherical power of < 10 dioptres, cylindrical power of > 2 dioptres but = 6 dioptres.

£78.10

£79.70

G: Glasses with bifocal lenses: spherical power of = 10 dioptres but = 14 dioptres, cylindrical power of = 6 dioptres.

£101.20

£103.30

H: Glasses with prism-controlled bifocal lenses of any power or with bifocal lenses: spherical power of > 14 dioptres with any cylindrical power—cylindrical power of > 6 dioptres with any spherical power.

£196.10

£200.10

I: (HES) Glasses not falling within any of paragraphs 1 to 8 for which a prescription is given in consequence of a testing of sight by an NHS Trust.

£182.70

£186.40