It recommends that people with long-term conditions should have free prescriptions. It sets out a plan for how the government should change the unfair prescriptions system to make sure people get the medications they need to stay well. You can read the full report, attached.

The government has welcomed the review, but says it would only consider scrapping prescription charges for people with long term conditions in the autumn as part of the next Spending Review. That gives us the next few months to make sure our politicians know how much we care about this issue. Thanks to your support, many MPs already support our campaign. We now have to renew our campaign for the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government, so we will be counting on you to help us in the coming months to ask your MP to put pressure on the new Government.

Watch this space! Thank you for your ongoing support.

The Prescription Charges Campaign Team

EU to assist organ donors and recipients in South West

The European Parliament has voted for legislation to make organ transplantation in Europe easier. MEPs want to see laws that will inform Europe's citizens about the issue, bring down administrative barriers and ensure high standards of quality and safety for donors and recipients.

Across Europe there are 60,000 people currently waiting for a transplant and it is estimated that 12 people die every day whilst waiting for a donor. The idea already has the backing of many member states, and it is hoped that rules might be in place later this year.

South West MEP Graham Watson says they can't come too soon;

"In the South West there are usually around 400 people actively waiting for kidney transplants alone. It is ridiculous that people should die waiting for an organ donation because of bureaucratic barriers between countries.

"The EU must act now to remove these barriers and make it easier for organ donation to take place between the 27 nations of Europe and its 500m citizens.

"The EU can make a real difference here, and I am determined that it does so."
 

The world's leading supplier of the anti-diabetes drug insulin is withdrawing a state-of-the-art medication from Greece.

Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, objects to a government decree ordering a 25% price cut in all medicines.

A campaign group has condemned the move as "brutal capitalist blackmail".

More than 50,000 Greeks with diabetes use Novo Nordisk's product, which is injected via an easy-to-use fountain pen-like device.

A spokesman for the Danish pharmaceutical company said it was withdrawing the product from the Greek market because the price cut would force its business in Greece to run at a loss.

The company was also concerned that the compulsory 25% reduction would have a knock-on effect because other countries use Greece as a key reference point for setting drug prices.

'Insensitive'

Greece wants to slash its enormous medical bill as part of its effort to reduce the country's crippling debt.

International pharmaceutical companies are owed billions in unpaid bills. Novo Nordisk claims it is owed $36m (£24.9m) dollars by the Greek state.

Pavlos Panayotacos, whose 10-year-old daughter Nephele has diabetes, has written to Novo Nordisk's chairman to criticise the move.

"As an economist I realise the importance of making a profit, but healthcare is more than just the bottom line," he wrote.

"As you well may know, Greece is presently in dire economic and social straits, and you could not have acted in a more insensitive manner at a more inopportune time."

The Greek diabetes association was more robust, describing the Danes' actions as "brutal blackmail" and "a violation of corporate social responsibility".

The Danish chairman, Lars Sorensen, wrote to Mr Panayotacos stressing that it was "the irresponsible management of finances by the Greek government which puts both you and our company in this difficult position".

People with diabetes in Greece have warned that some could die as a result of this action.

But a spokesman for Novo Nordisk said this issue was not about killing people. By way of compensation, he said the company would make available an insulin product called glucagen, free of charge.
 

A cancer patient who has a phobia of hospitals should be forced to undergo a life-saving operation if necessary, a High Court judge has ruled.

Sir Nicholas Wall, sitting at the Court of Protection, ruled doctors could forcibly sedate the 55-year-old woman, who has learning difficulties.

The woman lacked the capacity to make decisions about her health, he said.

Doctors at her NHS foundation trust had argued she would die if her ovaries and fallopian tubes were not removed.

Evidence presented to Sir Nicholas, head of the High Court Family Division, said the woman - referred to as "PS" - was diagnosed with uterine cancer last year.

'Entirely right'

It was slow growing but would, without surgery, ultimately spread and kill her, he heard.

The woman, who is said to have a "significant impairment in intellectual functioning", has failed or refused to attend hospital for treatment. She has a needle phobia as well as a hospital phobia.

In his ruling, Sir Nicholas said if persuasion failed, doctors could sedate PS in order to get her to hospital - and to detain her there while she recovered after the operation.

He said he was "entirely satisfied" that it was "right to make the declarations sought by the trust".

"Although the application is unusual and may involve the use of force, I am nonetheless impressed by the care and thought which have gone into ensuring that PS receives the treatment which she plainly needs and which it is plainly in her interests to have," he said.

David Congdon, head of campaigns at learning disability charity Mencap, said it was "right" for the courts to decide what was in the best interests of PS because "the patient clearly lacked the mental capacity to make the decision herself".

"This is an unusual case and we are very encouraged that health professionals have taken the right steps to ensure the patient receives the treatment she needs," he added.

Liz Sayce, chief executive of Radar, the disability network, said it was "positive" PS was getting life-saving treatment, because the most common problem people with learning difficulties had with healthcare was "not getting the treatment they needed... because some lives seem to be worth more than others".

But she said force was only justified if it was established, beyond doubt, that the patient could not comprehend that without it they would die.

"Everything has to be tried to enable the person to make the choice themselves - for example putting information in the most straightforward form, perhaps with pictures, or telling them with the help of the person who knows the patient best," she said.

The Court of Protection usually sits in secret, but Sir Nicholas said he made the ruling public to help others "who may be faced with a similar dilemma".