Prescription for action

In the wake of MPs’ expenses, Ruth Patrick argues that it’s time to put prescription charges very firmly on the disability agenda

Reading the deluge of coverage on the MPs’ expenses scandal and the outlandish claims for moats, church collections and plasma TVs got me thinking about the expenses that can arise from life as a disabled person.

As well as the costs of specialist equipment, extra heating and, on occasion, personal assistance, there is the frequent expense connected with necessary medication.

Unfortunately, however, while MPs have been able to submit extravagant claims for questionable costs associated with their lives as politicians, disabled people usually have to pick up the tab themselves, particularly where prescription charges are concerned.

Thus, I find myself shelling out £7.20 every month for the medication that helps me to manage my mental health condition.

As a full-time worker, I can afford this expense but it still galls me that I’m expected to pay out for such an essential item that, if the NHS still worked to its founding goals, should be provided free of cost.

What concerns me more is that some disability benefit claimants are also expected to pay for prescriptions, where their income places them just over the threshold for exemption from health care charges.

The impact of this is well-researched: a report by the mental health charity, Rethink, found that 38 per cent of those with long-term mental health issues often have to choose between paying household bills and paying for their prescriptions.

Furthermore, the Citizens Advice Bureau revealed that over 800,000 prescriptions are not collected each year, with cost being highlighted as a significant factor in dissuad­ing some individuals from getting their pills.

I know that placing the spotlight squarely on medicine, and thus on impairment, is not always popular with the disabled community. Nonetheless, it is time to look beyond the social model and consider issues of impairment.

Prescription charges is one issue where discussions and campaigns from within the disabled community could well yield results.

Indeed, now is a vital time to campaign on prescriptions. At last year’s Labour Party Conference, Gordon Brown promised to restore free prescriptions for all those with long-term health condi­tions and he has already removed prescription charges for those living with cancer.

A coalition of disability charities has launched the Prescription Promise Campaign, to demand that Gordon Brown’s promise is translated into action so that one cost associated with disability can be removed.

Let’s hope that in the midst of the expenses furore, Gordon Brown’s promise to help with the expenses of disability is not forgotten.

• To find out more, visit www.prescriptionpromise.org, which also contains a petition calling on the Government to act fast on prescriptions