Penny unwise and patient foolish

Dara Gantly on the unfinished business of the abolition of the prescription charge, an "inequitable and inefficient" measure. A year after the general election and the minority Government has seen some gains and slippages in implementing the health objectives of the Programme for a Partnership Government. It hasn’t reduced emergency department attendances by enhancing primary care, there has been no further phased extension of free GP care at the point of delivery to the under-18s, and a new GP contract is still some distance away. Additional funding has been secured, including a ring-fenced budget for the National Treatment Purchase Fund,…