PEOPLE with certain medical conditions are exempt from paying current prescription charges.

However, the list of exempt conditions does not include cystic fibrosis.

This is because the exempt list was drawn up more than 40 years ago, in 1968, when most children with cystic fibrosis did not live until adulthood.

Fortunately the outlook for people with cystic fibrosis has improved markedly since then and most people with cystic fibrosis live until adulthood, although still with a reduced life expectancy when compared with the wider population as a whole.

However the list of exempt conditions has not been properly revised since 1968 and therefore does not take account of this.

Many people with cystic fibrosis have to pay for all of their prescriptions unless they develop diabetes, a complication of cystic fibrosis that affects more than 30 per cent of people with cystic fibrosis and which is included on the exempt list.

The increasing ageing cystic fibrosis population over the years is as a result of improved treatments.

This strongly demonstrates the exempt list is more than 40 years out of date and cystic fibrosis should now be included.

A petition on change.org has been set up to get the exempt list updated.

The link is available by visiting http://chng.it/cV6dsyzB.

Peter Trengrove Cheshire