No charge for cancer prescriptions

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Prescription charges for cancer patients will be scrapped throughout the course of next year in England, he told delegates at Labour's conference in Manchester.

The eventual aim is to phase out the charge for all patients with long-term conditions.

The Government will consult with clinicians, stakeholders and patient groups to work out which conditions will be covered.

At present, long-term conditions are those that cannot be cured but can be controlled through medication and other therapies and which have an impact on a person's quality of life.

The move, which immediately takes around 250,000 people out of NHS prescription charges, rising to five million in the longer term, was welcomed by campaigners.

Mr Brown said: "Because we know that almost every British family has been touched by cancer, (Health Secretary) Alan Johnson and I know we must do more to relieve the financial worry that so often goes alongside the heartache, so our plan is next year to abolish all prescription charges for everyone with cancer.

"And this is not the limit of our commitment to a fair NHS. In the long term, as the NHS generates cash savings in its drugs budget, we will plough them back into abolishing charges for all patients with long-term conditions."

The change is estimated to cost £20 million over the next year, rising to £300 million a year over the long-term as more conditions are covered, and is expected to save many patients £100-a-year or more.