Pharmacy leaders urge the Chancellor to scrap the 'cruel tax on illness' after one in 10 in England go without medicine

Patients in England pay £9.90 per prescription item, while those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland pay nothing. Wales abolished the charge in 2007, Northern Ireland in 2010 and Scotland in 2011. A Savanta poll of 1,781 adults for the National Pharmacy Association found 79% think the divide is 'unfair'. The NPA, whose membership spans around 6,000 community pharmacies, is calling for the charge to be eliminated in the upcoming Budget.

A further 12% of those polled had put off collecting prescriptions because of the cost.

The NPA describes it as a 'national scandal' that cost deters people from buying medicines.

Phil Day of Pharmacy2U is worried for patients 'managing long-term conditions' going without.