Health Costs

Depending on your age, income, medical condition and where in the UK you live you may be eligible for financial help with some of the following health costs:

Prescriptions
Dental treatment
Sight tests
Glasses or contact lenses
Wigs
Support garments
Travel to receive NHS treatment under the care of a consultant
Aids and equipment

Different rules apply in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Citizens Advice have information about this financial help on their Adviceguide website (link below).

Prescriptions:

If you do not fit the criteria to receive financial help, but you have to pay regularly for prescriptions it may be cheaper for you to purchase a Prescription Prepayment Certificate. Your doctor or your pharmacist should be able to advise.

Please note that all cancer patients are entitled to receive their prescriptions for free. This includes medicines for non-cancer-related conditions. To qualify you need to apply on a special application from which will be available either from your local surgery or oncology clinic. These forms must be countersigned by your GP, hospital doctor or Clinical Nurse Specialist. Exemption Certificates last for five years even if you are declared free of cancer before then and can be renewed as many times as necessary.

Links

Citizens Advice		Citizens Advice - Help with Health Costs
Macmillan Cancer Support	89 Albert Embankment London, SE1 7UQ 0207 840 7840 (office) 0808 808 0000 (Help line) 0808 808 0121 (Hard of hearing)	Help with health costs
UK Government Official Information		DirectGov - Disability Benefits

Review date: May 2012

Dorothy House Hospice Care provides the A-Z as a service to patients, carers and professionals, and cannot accept responsibility for the content of any external site referred to. We endeavour to ensure that all links are relevant at the time of publication.