HRT prepayment certificate to roll-out in April in England

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has introduced a new prescription pre-payment certificate (PPC) for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) which
is said to benefit around 400,000 women who suffer from negative symptoms of the menopause in England.

PPC will be rolled-out from 1 April and it reduce the HRT costs to less than £20 a year. Women prescribed HRT – the main treatment for menopause symptoms – will
have access to a new scheme enabling access to a year’s worth of menopause prescription items for the cost of two single prescription charges (currently £18.70).

As part of commitments to reduce the cost of HRT for menopausal women, the prescription PPC will be valid for 12 months. It can be used against a list of HRT
prescription items, and a patient can use this against an unlimited number of HRT items, such as patches, tablets and topical preparations. There will be no limit
to how many times the certificate can be used while it is valid.

“The introduction of the certificate delivers one of our year one priorities for the Women’s Health Strategy for England. Published last summer, the strategy sets
out an ambitious new agenda for improving the health and wellbeing of women and girls and to improve how the health and care system listens to women. Menopause was
announced as a priority area within the strategy,” said DHSC.