To receive primary medical care in the British National Health Service (NHS) patients must register with a general (family) practice, which also acts as gatekeeper for elective hospital care. The NHS is financed almost entirely from general taxation and patients face no charges for NHS health care, apart from a small charge for drugs prescribed in primary care. Because of the wide range of exemptions on grounds of age, income, and health, around90% of drug prescriptions carried no charge in 2007/8.