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An update on our campaign for free prescriptions
Last week, our Policy and Public Affairs team, along with other members of the Prescription Charges Coalition, went to the Department of Health & Social Care to hand in a letter calling for the Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, Andrea Leadsom, to freeze prescription charges for 2024 and 2025.
It’s shocking that many people with cystic fibrosis (CF) have to pay prescription charges, when their daily treatments are essential to stay alive. Our research shows that CF adds an additional £6,800 per year for a typical family and that 1 in 3 people affected by the condition are having to prioritise one essential - such as prescription charges, heating, and eating - over another. A further rise in prescription charges will add to this burden, so together with the Prescription Charges Coalition, we’re calling on the Government to urgently review the current exemption list so that no one with CF has to pay for the drugs they need.
David Ramsden, Chief Executive of Cystic Fibrosis Trust
James’s story
We spoke to James about the financial burden of being a student with cystic fibrosis, and how paying prescription charges contributes to this.
The financial burden of cystic fibrosis as a student is heavy. As well as the extra costs of attending medical appointments, I am financially burdened with the cost of having to ensure my living conditions minimise infection.
Other students living within a tight budget may be able to save hundreds of pounds per month by living what is more often than not called ‘the student lifestyle’. Whether this includes an extra duvet in winter to save money on heating during the night, or renting a shared flat with poor ventilation and damp in the bathroom, these cost savings, for a student with CF, come at the price of my health. I pay for constant heating to ensure I do not catch infections, that other students don’t. I pay more for rent to ensure my flat has not even the tiniest bit of mould on the extractor fan in the bathroom.
Not only this, but to suit my medical needs I also am limited to housing with ensuite bathrooms. Most things that are seen as unnecessary luxuries to students are a medical necessity to me, all of which come with a hefty price tag.
It is not only my living which is impacted but also my day-to-day expenses. CF also limits my student life in the time I lose to my intense daily medical routine. Whilst friends are earning that extra money a week doing a couple of shifts in a pub, I am at home preparing and doing my treatments. Paying for my own prescription makes me feel unseen and invalidated as a student living with a life changing illness. It’s another cost on top of so many extra costs that CF brings to my life.
Campaign for free prescriptions
Living with cystic fibrosis (CF) often requires a huge burden of daily medication essential to stay well. But shockingly around 2,500 adults with CF in England do not qualify for free prescriptions.