Written question WQ96010
- Asked by
- Darren MillarConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 5 days
Question
What consideration has the Welsh Government given to requiring the costs of prescription items to be printed on labels when dispensing items funded by the Welsh NHS?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Powers to alter the information which can be included on dispensing labels are reserved by UK Government.
There is no empirical evidence that including a price on medicine labels leads to reductions in waste and there are significant concerns that implementing such a policy could have unintended negative consequences such as devaluing medicines with relatively low prices resulting in lower adherence to treatments and increases in waste.
In 2016, the UK Government consulted on proposals to amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to permit dispensing labels to include the price of the medicine and a statement about how the cost of the medicine is met.
Pharmacy dispensing models and displaying prices on medicines: response to the 2016 consultation - GOV.UK