Mum-of-one Eileen Hogg was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2004 and has been on medication ever since.

After courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the 48-year-old was declared technically in remission but still needs regular medication to prevent the cancer returning and to treat side-effects from taking the cancer drug such as mouth ulcers and sickness.

Eileen, a financial adviser from Glasgow, says the reduction in prescription charges will make a huge difference for the thousands of cancer patients paying for prescriptions.

She explained: "When you're fighting cancer you are having to cope not only with the physical effects, but also with the emotional strain of knowing you have cancer. When you add worries about paying for prescriptions to that, it just makes things worse."

"I was paying on average £40 a month for prescriptions and this was for everything from antibiotics, anti-sickness pills, to skin creams, foam dressings and mouthwash."

"At one point I paid out £40 in just one week for prescriptions, during a particularly bad time on chemo."

"Thankfully I need less medication now than I did then, but I'm still paying for my cancer drug as well as anti-sickness pills and mouthwash needed to treat the side-effects of this cancer drug."

"Using annual pre-payment certificates makes a big difference and reducing the price of these to £48 will really help people like myself who need several different prescriptions."