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The English Pharmacy Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has called for greater flexibility in prescribing for patients with stable long-term conditions after it was announced that prescription charges are to rise from £7.85 to £8.05.

It's appalling that the cost of medication prohibits over a third of people from taking it as prescribed, says vice-chair Ash Soni. €One way to help some patients would be to look at the duration of GP prescribing intervals for people taking medication for a stable long-term condition while maintaining their contact with the pharmacist,€ he said.

€Linking the prescription charge to the repeat authorisation, rather than to each prescription form, is likely to increase medicine adherence through reduced costs. It would also relieve pressure on GP workloads, while maintaining oversight and effective medicines optimisation at pharmacy level.€