Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:25 pm on 28 February 2023.
May I ask for a statement from the health Minister on the issue of charging for delivering prescriptions from pharmacies? It's entirely reasonable to charge in a scenario where an individual can't be bothered to collect a prescription, but I've been contacted by some people in my region who, because of their medical condition, can't go and fetch their prescriptions, and have now found that they are required to pay for that. In the first instance, many of them can't afford to do so, and the inevitable upshot of that is that they will not, therefore, be receiving the medicines that they need. And that, of course, undermines the policy that we're all proud of, that prescriptions are free of charge in Wales. So, I think we need some clarity from the Minister on what the Government expects from pharmacies: do the pharmacists or the individuals trying to access prescriptions need support? And I i think we need more consistency across Wales, because in some areas they charge, and in others they don't.