Coalition activities in 2020

Laura, who chairs the Coalition shares what activities we've been doing this year

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone. As a Coalition we've come together several times to discuss and agree activities we could undertake to raise the profile of prescription charges and get the UK Government to commit to reviewing the exemption list.

Here are some of the things we've done this year to keep our campaign in the news:

In February we featured alongside Joanna, who has a liver condition, in a Radio 4 programme. Joanna shared how unfair and confusing the system is and I shared the Coalition's research and our call for the Government to review the exemption list.

In early March we issued a comment on the announcement that prescription charges were due to rise on 1 April. Our comment was picked up in The Metro and The Sun. 

In March we wrote to the Minister, Lord Bethell to urge him to suspend prescription charges during the pandemic. His response received in September ruled this out. We managed to get some media coverage for our plea. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society also supported our call. Jon Ashworth, the shadow health spokesperson raised our concerns in parliament.

Just as the charge was set to rise in April we issued another media comment, which was picked up in The Sun and coalition members shared our call for an urgent review of the charge on their social media channels. 

In July the story of Caiden was featured on LBC as his mother was worried about how he would pay for prescriptions. We shared our concerns and reiterated our call for the Government to take action to review the list.

We also asked supportive MPs and peers to ask questions in parliament about prescription charges.

Charities have been hit by the pandemic, so are rightly focusing their efforts on supporting their members. We continue to stay in touch and discuss how we can build our evidence and arguments to convince the Government they must take action and scrap the charge.

If you'd like to share your story or experience please email us.