For details of current prescription charges and exemptions, Prescription Prepayment Certificates and help with health costs, click here

All prescriptions are free in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 

You can get free NHS prescriptions in England if, at the time the prescription is dispensed, you:

1.  are 60 or over
2.  are under 16
3.  are 16-18 and in full-time education
4.  are pregnant or have had a baby in the previous 12 months and have a valid maternity exemption certificate (MatEx)  
5.  have a specified medical condition and have a valid medical exemption certificate (MedEx)
6.  have a continuing physical disability that prevents you from going out without help from another person and have a valid MedEx
7.  hold a valid war pension exemption certificate and the prescription is for your accepted disability
8.  are an NHS inpatient

Medical exemption certificates are issued on application to people who have:

•  a permanent fistula (for example caecostomy, colostomy, laryngostomy or ileostomy) requiring continuous surgical dressing or requiring an appliance
•  a form of hypoadrenalism (for example Addison's disease) for which specific substitution therapy is essential
•  diabetes insipidus or other forms of hypopituitarism
•  diabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet alone
•  hypoparathyroidism (blood deficiency which can cause muscle spasms)
•  myasthenia gravis (abnormal weakness of certain muscles)
•  myxoedema (that is, hypothyroidism requiring thyroid hormone replacement)
•  epilepsy requiring continuous anticonvulsive therapy
•  a continuing physical disability which means the person cannot go out without the help of another person. Temporary disabilities do not count even if they last for several months
•  Or are undergoing treatment for cancer: including the effects of cancer, or the effects of current or previous cancer treatment