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So, at the current rate of hikes, it will cost £10.15 by 2025 and £11.35 in 10 years, the Prescription Charges Coalition has calculated. The annual prescription prepayment certificate, has also increased by £2.20 to £108.10. But PCC, an alliance of organisations, has called for an urgent review of the prescription charge exemptions list. Apart from the inclusion of cancer, it has not been changed since 1968. PCC, which campaigns for the abolition of charges for long-term health conditions, said the list was created so long ago that conditions like HIV did not even exist at the time.

Chairwoman Laura Cockram, from Parkinson’s UK, said that some people were forced to choose between medication and food. She said: “It’s almost like a tax on the health or an additional cost, just to stay healthy.

“We are very worried that people with long-term conditions are being put off getting their medication.

“We did some research a couple of years ago and a third of people who responded said they were not picking up their medication.

“We’re calling for an urgent review of the list. HIV wasn’t even around when the exemption list was created, people with cystic fibrosis were not expected to live to be adults when it was created.

“It’s massively unfair [as] people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, get prescriptions for free.”

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