Gordon Brown receives prescription promise ‘wake-up call’

People across England will be joining forces to demonstrate their outrage at Gordon Brown's failure to act on his promise to abolish prescription charges for people with long-term conditions, by taking part in a simultaneous ‘wake-up phone call’ to No 10.

The wake-up call will take place at 11am on Monday 1 February 2010, with people with long-term conditions including arthritis, expected to call the Downing Street phone lines.

The campaign is being organised by the Prescription Charges Coalition, which is made up of over 20 charities including Arthritis Care. The unusual approach has been chosen because if legislation is not implemented during the next few weeks, free prescriptions will not become a reality before the General Election.

In fact, if Mr Brown does not abolish prescription charges for people with long-term conditions before the election, the whole policy is at risk of failure as Labour are behind in the opinion polls and no other party has indicated any intention to change current legislation.

Gordon Brown promised to deliver free prescriptions for people with long-term conditions at the Labour party conference in September 2008, but, sixteen months later, his promise has still not been kept. This situation seems particularly unfair considering that prescriptions are already free in Wales and charges will soon be abolished in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

We know that people with long-term conditions across the country are finding it an increasing struggle to afford their medicines, including those with arthritis, asthma, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, depression and stroke survivors.

For example, research by Asthma UK last summer highlighted that a third of people with asthma were finding it harder to pay for their prescriptions since the start of the recession and, in 2007, the Citizens Advice Bureau revealed that every year, around 800,000 people don't collect their prescriptions because of the cost.

If people can’t afford the medicines they need to stay well, this can have a massive impact on their quality of life, ability to work, put increased pressure on relationships and families, and potentially lead to more serious illness.

Speaking on behalf of the Prescription Charges Coalition, Neil Churchill, chief executive of Asthma UK, said: ‘People with long term conditions will not accept this policy falling through the cracks. Gordon Brown must listen to today’s wake-up call and deliver on his prescription promise without delay.

'In the mean time, people across the country are being forced into a position where they stretch their medicines or stop taking them altogether because of the cost, which can lead to worsening health and even result in hospital admissions. This is an unacceptable state of affairs, so the message is, Gordon, time is running out - act now before it's too late.’

Write to your MP or find out more about the campaign

Find out more about the Prescription Charges Coalition