Prescriptions Mr. Cousins To ask the Secretary of State for Health for each NHS region and health district what was (a) the total number of prescriptions and (b) the total number of prescriptions that incurred charges in 1988 and 1991; and if he will express the latter as a percentage of the former. Mrs. Virginia Bottomley Information for 1988–89 is not available. Information for the financial years 1989–90 and 1990–91 is in the table. ----------------------------------------- | | ----------------------------------------- |Doncaster | ----------------------------------------- |Rotherham | ----------------------------------------- |Sheffield | ----------------------------------------- |Trent | ----------------------------------------- |Cambridgeshire | ----------------------------------------- |Norfolk | ----------------------------------------- |Suffolk | ----------------------------------------- |East Anglia | ----------------------------------------- |Bedfordshire | ----------------------------------------- |Hertfordshire | ----------------------------------------- |Barnet | ----------------------------------------- |Brent and Harrow | ----------------------------------------- |Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow | ----------------------------------------- |Hillingdon | ----------------------------------------- |Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster | ----------------------------------------- |North West Thames | ----------------------------------------- |Essex | ----------------------------------------- |Barking and Havering | ----------------------------------------- |Camden and Islington | ----------------------------------------- |City, Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets| ----------------------------------------- |Enfield and Haringey | ----------------------------------------- |Redbridge and Waltham Forest | ----------------------------------------- |North East Thames | ----------------------------------------- |East Sussex | ----------------------------------------- |Kent | ----------------------------------------- |Bexley and Greenwich | ----------------------------------------- |Bromley | ----------------------------------------- |Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark | ----------------------------------------- |South East Thames | ----------------------------------------- |Surrey | ----------------------------------------- |West Sussex | ----------------------------------------- |Croydon | ----------------------------------------- |Kingston and Richmond | ----------------------------------------- |Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth | ----------------------------------------- |South West Thames | ----------------------------------------- |Dorset | ----------------------------------------- |Hampshire | ----------------------------------------- |Wiltshire | ----------------------------------------- |Isle of Wight | ----------------------------------------- |Wessex | ----------------------------------------- |Berkshire | ----------------------------------------- |Buckinghamshire | ----------------------------------------- |Northamptonshire | ----------------------------------------- |Oxfordshire | ----------------------------------------- |Oxford | ----------------------------------------- |Avon | ----------------------------------------- |Cornwall | ----------------------------------------- |Devon | ----------------------------------------- |Gloucestershire | ----------------------------------------- |Somerset | ----------------------------------------- |South Western | ----------------------------------------- |Hereford and Worcestershire | ----------------------------------------- |Salop | ----------------------------------------- |Staffordshire | ----------------------------------------- |Warwickshire | ----------------------------------------- |Birmingham | ----------------------------------------- |Coventry | ----------------------------------------- |Dudley | ----------------------------------------- |Sandwell | ----------------------------------------- ------------------------- |FPC Name | ------------------------- | | ------------------------- |Solihull | ------------------------- |Walsall | ------------------------- |Wolverhampton | ------------------------- |West Midlands | ------------------------- |Cheshire | ------------------------- |Liverpool | ------------------------- |St. Helens and Knowsley| ------------------------- |Sefton | ------------------------- |Wirral | ------------------------- |Mersey | ------------------------- |Lancashire | ------------------------- |Bolton | ------------------------- |Bury | ------------------------- |Manchester | ------------------------- |Oldham | ------------------------- |Rochdale | ------------------------- |Salford | ------------------------- |Stockport | ------------------------- |Tameside | ------------------------- |Trafford | ------------------------- |Wigan | ------------------------- |North Western | ------------------------- |England | ------------------------- Mr. Cousins To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a chronic asthmatic on invalidity benefit and in receipt of housing benefits and poll tax benefit but below pensionable age is entitled to free prescriptions. Mrs. Virginia Bottomley Since 1968, when medical exemptions from prescription charges were first introduced, asthma has not been a condition which of itself attracts free prescriptions. The NHS low income scheme underpins wide-ranging exemption arrangements on grounds of health or status, thus ensuring that no one need be deterred from obtaining any necessary medication for financial reasons.As a result of the exemption and charge remission arrangements, coupled with the prescription prepayment certificate scheme, less than one item in six dispensed in the NHS attracts a charge. In 1991 100 million more items were dispensed free than in 1979, when one in three attracted a charge.