Table 1.

Current National Health Service (NHS) per-prescribed item charge exemption criteria applied in England

Age based criteria	• Under 16
	• Aged 16–18 and in full time education
	• Aged 60 or over
Benefits based criteria	• If you receive income Support
	• If you receive income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
	• If you receive income-related Employment and Support Allowance
	• If you have a HC2 certificate
Tax credit based criteria	• If your annual family income is £15,276 or less and you receive either:
	(1) Child Tax Credit
	(2) Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit paid together
	(3) Working Tax Credit including a disability element
Pregnant women and those who have had a baby in the last 12 months
MedEx Criteria	• A permanent fistula (for example, caecostomy, colostomy, laryngostomy or ileostomy) which needs continuous surgical dressing or an appliance
	• A form of hypoadrenalism (for example, Addison’s Disease) for which specific substitution therapy is essential
	• Diabetes insipidus and other forms of hypopituitarism
	• Diabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet alone
	• Hypoparathyroidism
	• Myasthenia gravis
	• Myxoedema (that is, hypothyroidism which needs thyroid hormone replacement)
	• Epilepsy which needs continuous anticonvulsive therapy
	• A continuing physical disability which means you cannot go out without the help of another person
	• Cancer and are undergoing treatment for either:
	(1) cancer
	(2) the effects of cancer
People who receive War Pension Scheme or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments