Prescription and dental charges to rise
Department of Health confirms price rises from April.
The Department of Health has announced that prescription costs and dental charges are to be increased in England from 1st April.
Prescription charges
The cost of prescribed medicines will increase 15p from £8.05 to £8.20.
However, the cost of a prescription prepayment certificate – which allows you to pay for long-term medication – has been frozen. A three-month certificate costs £29.10, while an annual certificate will set you back £104.
Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
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Dental charges
As for dental charges, the cost of a band one course of treatment, which includes an examination, will jump from £18.50 to £18.80
Meanwhile, the cost of a band two course of treatment, such as fillings and root canal treatment, will rise 80p to £51.30 from £50.50. Finally, the cost of a band three course of treatment, such as crowns and dentures, will increase by £3.50 from £219 to £222.50.
Read How to get cheaper dental treatment for tips on how to cut your costs.
Wigs and fabric charges are going up too
Charges for wigs and fabric supports are also being increased by 1.6%.
As a result a surgical brassiere will set you back £27.45, an abdominal or spinal support will cost £41.50, a stock modacrylic wig will cost £67.75, a partial human hair wig will cost £179.45 and a full, bespoke human hair wig will set you back £262.45.
Vouchers
In more positive news, the value of NHS optical vouchers (which are available to children, people on low incomes and those with complex sight problems) are being increased by 1%.
Private medical insurance is cheaper than you think: get a free, no obligation quote
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Nothing's free on the NHS, that's what your NI contributions pay for! Dental charges are a bit of joke if you actually need to have anything done, the cost for crowns for example are for the horrible silver jobs which look awful, if you want something that looks nice you have to go "private", in which case add a zero on the end. That's why you never see a poor dentist...
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Message to Web master. Would you please change your web site so that we can edit our comments if we make a spelling error, for example?
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Sorry, that should be tea, not tee, but we cannot edit our comments. Why? We used to be able to with the previous web page design.
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13 March 2015