Prescription charges in England should be scrapped, pharmacy leaders have said.

A new survey indicates that 79 per cent of the public consider it "unfair" that patients in England must pay for their medication, whereas those residing in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not.

The poll of 1,781 adults in England, carried out by Savanta for the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), also discovered that one in 10 people (10 per cent) have gone without a prescribed medicine over the last year because of the cost involved.

Another 12 per cent of respondents stated they had delayed collecting their prescriptions for the exact same financial reason.

Describing the policy as a "cruel tax on illness", the NPA urged the Chancellor to eliminate the charges in the upcoming Budget , stating that such a step would help relieve widespread cost of living pressures.

Phil Day, superintendent pharmacist at Pharmacy2U , said: “It’s concerning to hear that people are going without medication because of the cost of…