Pre- paid prescription expired Fine - how much?

DullGreyGuy

silvercar said:

Given that a lot of people have their prescriptions sent straight to a pharmacy, you would have thought that the pharmacies would be able to note on their systems when exemption certificates need renewing.

That will come down to each pharmacy, their choice of software etc etc. 

Boots dont, they allowed it to continue for years after it expired. New pharmacy (online) required a photo of the card and their system does show the exemption expiry date

UKSBD

I don't know if NHSBSA are a separate profit making company who are rewarded for how many PCN's they send out, but if they are, and if  paid on commission bases, they could be making a fortune.

In my wifes case, her certificate expired on 24th September, we received letter on 9th December saying she had a prescription between 26th and 30th September.

Now if I was trying to make money out of this.
I would note that her certificate was expired on the 26th, not let her know for over 2 months, then look at all the prescriptions she had in that time period and send a PCN for every one.

Ypur average certificate holder on 3 or 4 items a month could face a bill of over £1,000

UKSBD

As suspected - it happened

We paid the 1st PCN of £59.40 and today received a 2nd one.

Going through our records she has recived 7 other items from the period of when they were aware her prepaid certificate edxpired and when they sent the 1st PCN

We are looking at potential fines totalling over £400 mainly due to the time delay of when they were aware her certificate expired and when we received the PCN

It's obviously in their advantage to be as slow as possible in sending out the PCN's

If this was a parking company there would be uproar, the NHBSA could be making a fortune by being slow in sending out letters.

DullGreyGuy

UKSBD said:

If this was a parking company there would be uproar, the NHBSA could be making a fortune by being slow in sending out letters.

The issue with private parking companies is their rather dubious claims that by entering a car park you are forming a contract with them, amoungst other things. 

Police/Traffic Warden issued tickets are a totally different kettle of fish and most on this forum won't give advice on how to deal with them. I'd argue that the NHSBSA is much closer aligned to those than private car parking companies