Prescription charges went up from $3 to $5 in January, saving $40 million a year which Mr Ryall said would be reinvested in public health.

Labour's health spokeswoman, Annette King, Underwear Hong Kong says he was warned at the time the increase would hit struggling families and many patients wouldn't pick up their prescriptions because they couldn't afford it ipad waterproof cases.

She put in an Official Information Act request asking for the monitoring reports Mr Ryall had received since January.

"I have not received any regular reports on the impact on patients of the increase in prescription fees to $5 from the Ministry of Health or any other entity," Mr Ryall replied.

"I am therefore declining your request on the basis that the information requested does not exist."

Ms King says it's clear the minister has made no effort at all to find out how the increase has affected poor families.

She has previously quoted pharmacists saying patients often hand in their prescriptions but don't come back to collect them ip networking.

Prescription charges apply to the first 20 items an individual or a family buys each year and there is no charge for subsequent items.

Mr Ryall says that means no one is paying more than $40 extra a year, push up corset but Ms King says the exemption isn't working properly.

"To get the exemption people need to use the same pharmacy each time because there is no data base that records how many scripts people have collected wigs natural hair," she said.

"Thousands of New Zealanders are missing out - my suggestion is the introduction of a pharmacy card that can be used at any chemist to record transactions so that once the dispensary limit is reached, the exemption kicks in."