• Question: Do you think the price of antibiotics will increase if the NHS ever became privatised?

    Asked by 492anta47 to Ceri, Marikka, Matt, Rob, Sally on 12 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Sally Cutler

      Sally Cutler answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      I hope not, but cannot predict the future. Some treatments are lengthy and the largest burden of infection falls upon those with least money in developing countries and even in the developed world. I think it would be very wrong to put an unaffordable price tag on our health.

    • Photo: Robert Hampson

      Robert Hampson answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      The NHS currently give you antibiotics for free. Private hospitals would not do this as they need to make a profit. They would charge you for the antibiotics. Therefore, for the patient, the price of drugs would increase from free (i.e. £0.00) to whatever the actual cost of antibiotics is plus a small profit for the hospital.

      In terms of how much the pharmaceutical companies charge for antibiotics, this is unlikely to change however the NHS do probably get discounts for buying in massive bulk whereas a single private hospital would not be able to get the same discount.

    • Photo: Ceri Dare

      Ceri Dare answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      Yes. The NHS can refuse to pay more than a certain amount for any medicine. Because the NHS buys so many medicines, this gives it a lot of negotiating power. If hospitals were private, then the drugs companies could get away with charging lots more in the UK.

      Many antibiotics are very cheap. That’s why it is important to keep them working well and avoid resistance developing, like with the sort of maths I do to know how to swap them around.

      Some newer antibiotics can cost thousands and thousands of pounds per treatment, so we only use them when nothing else will work – and people who can’t afford them just die. I get very angry about this!

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