"For the Liberal Democrats fairness is a priority. Many people with long term illnesses like Cystic Fibrosis and Multiple Sclerosis have to pay for their life saving drugs, while people with diabetes and epilepsy get them free.
"The current system means people on low incomes have to budget for their medicine - and often end up taking lower doses to save money. In the long-term this means increased costs for the NHS because, unchecked, their condition will get worse.
"We will undertake the first major independent review of prescription charges in a generation. Our aim will be a fairer system, with free prescriptions for more people with long term conditions. In our spending plans we have set aside £225 million to implement the recommendations of the review.
"We reject the Conservative mantra of false choice if it comes at the expense of real capacity in the NHS. Subsidising private operations for those who can already afford them is a policy for the few.
"My fear is that the Conservatives do not really believe in the founding principles of the NHS.
"The Liberal Democrats understand that people want quality local services close to home. That is the real alternative to Labour's micromanaged NHS."
On hidden waiting lists, Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, will say:
"As many as 500,000 people are languishing on hidden waiting lists in this country. But the Health Secretary has failed to publish these lists.
"Liberal Democrat research has found that in 2 out of 5 NHS Trusts people are waiting six months or more for a routine MRI scan. These are scans to confirm a cancer, a brain tumour, a heart condition.
"Labour's political targets are missing the point. It is because Liberal Democrats put patients first that we will tackle these hidden waiting times."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Liberal Democrat spending plans on health:
Free personal care, costing £1.6bn in 2006/7, will be funded out of our new 50% rate on that part of people's incomes over £100,000.
Other proposals to be funded from part of the £5bn switched each year from low priority government programmes, as outlined in our Alternative Budget.
We will spend almost £8 billion more on health over a full parliament than the Labour and Conservative plans.
Liberal Democrat Five Priorities for the NHS:
1. Free personal care
We will implement the recommendations of the Sutherland Commission to introduce free personal care. This is care which involves touching the person, for example washing or dressing, in a care home or in someone's own home. The Labour Government has only introduced free nursing care, that provided by a nurse. The Conservatives would introduce an unfair insurance system, benefiting an affluent minority and only those who need care for longer than three years.
2. Quicker Diagnosis. We have allocated £350m over a parliament on top of Government plans making a total of £1.35bn to tackle hidden waiting lists by offering diagnosis by the quickest practical route, public or private, so that NHS treatment can begin more quickly. Our approach, unlike Labour, will be to work with local health trusts to integrate new services with the NHS at a local level to get the best value for money.
3. Cut unfair charges - free eye and dental checks, a fairer prescription charge regime with fewer charges
We will introduce free eye and dental checks, costing £175m in 2006/7. We will set up an independent review of the prescription charge regime in 2005/6 and have allocated £225m over a parliament to implement the recommendations of the review, tackling the unfair anomalies in the system and exempting more people with long term conditions from paying charges.
4. Scrapping targets which hinder tackling MRSA and other superbugs. We have a range of proposals to give more freedom to frontline staff to use the investment we are putting into the NHS to meet local needs and to prevent, control and contain the spread of infections, including better training, better statistics, an audit of isolation facilities and better hand-washing facilities.
5. Giving people control over their health and their healthcare
We have a package of measures to tackle the causes of ill health and put people in control of their health. This includes £140m over a parliament to fund more research into screening tests to develop a health MoT and further investment in palliative care.
Current prescription charge regime:
In England, prescriptions are currently free for:
Children and students, pensioners, people getting income support or certain other benefits/tax credits. All items personally administered by doctors and all contraceptives are free. People with certain medical conditions are exempt from paying charges.
80% of people aged between 18 and 60 have to pay for their prescriptions (Unhealthy Charges, National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, 2001) The Cystic Fibrosis Trust estimates that over 1,200 people with Cystic Fibrosis have to pay for their prescriptions.
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