‘Millions spent handing out suntan lotion on the NHS’

17 Jul 2016

Almost £5 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent handing out suntan lotion under the SNP’s free prescription policy in the last three years.

New statistics have revealed the NHS gave out more than 58,000 sunscreen prescriptions last year, an increase on 2014/15.

The ISD Scotland statistics, published this week, showed the prescription of the items cost £1.67 million last year, which is also an increase.

The Scottish Conservatives said, while skin cancer is an increasing challenge to health chiefs, this didn’t mean the taxpayer should pay for protection when people go on holiday.

The party has long called for the Scottish Government to end its practice of giving out free prescriptions to those who can well afford it.

That would generate tens of millions in cash for the NHS, which could be spent on frontline nursing and easing staffing concerns in wards across the country.

Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Miles Briggs said:

“As always, there will be instances where someone’s medical condition warrants being prescribed sunscreen on the NHS.

“However, people will be alarmed that giving out free bottles of suntan lotion has cost the taxpayer nearly £5 million since 2014.

“That means it will undoubtedly be the case that people are walking into pharmacies ahead of an expensive holiday and charging their sunscreen bill to the NHS.

“That’s extremely unfair on the majority who pay for theirs, not to mention how that cash could be better spent across the NHS.

“This is another example of why we need to look again at prescription charging.

“It’s wrong that people who can well afford and are quite happy to pay are being subsidised by the public purse.”

Below is the amount spent on sunscreens and the amount prescribed over the past three years. Source: ISD Scotland.

2015/16 – 58,504 items prescribed costing £1.67 million

2014/15 – 57,314 items prescribed costing £1.62 million

2013/14 – 54,199 items prescribed costing £1.47 million

For the full report, visit:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Prescribing-and-Medicines/Publications/2016-07-12/2016-07-12-Prescribing-PrescriptionCostAnalysis-Report.pdf