NHS Pre-payment "fine" - how can this be allowed?
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BlueSkiesandClouds
Posts: 41 Forumite
Hi everyone
My partner has an NHS pre-payment card.
For anyone that doesn't know, you pay £104 up front and then all prescription charges are covered for the year, it works out cheaper if you need more than one prescription per month.
My partner has had this for some years for several conditions and all has been fine.
Unfortunately, due to a mental lapse (related to her condition but that's by-the-by), she picked up some prescriptions from the chemist thinking she was still covered by the pre-payment, but she didn't realise until several weeks later that she wasn't covered as the pre-payment card had lapsed and she should have paid for them.
She contacted the chemist as soon as she realised, offering to pay. Unfortunately they said that they didn't have the prescription forms any more, so they couldn't process a payment. The forms had been sent back to the NHS for processing at their centre.
I contacted the NHS pre-payment centre and offered to pay for the prescriptions and they said:
1. They have no method to take payment
2. We'll have to wait up to a month to see if we will be fined
3. The fine will be £100 + the cost of the prescriptions :eek:
4. It's down to luck whether we'll be fined or not
How on earth can this be allowed? We realised we made a mistake, offered to correct that mistake as soon as we knew and they won't take money for it.
Instead, they'll refuse to take the money offered, issue a big fine and then charge for the prescriptions as well.
My partner has been off work ill for six months, I haven't been able to work as much as I should as I've been looking after her. We literally can't afford this.
It seems so wrong that they say there is no method to take payment, but they can take payment if they fine you, how does that work then?
The only possible light at the end of the tunnel is that the guy I spoke to said we could appeal it and he would put a note on our account saying we rang up to try and pay it. Whether that would make a difference or not...who knows.
Has anyone else had anything like this happen? Is there anything that can be done?
Thank you in advance.
My partner has an NHS pre-payment card.
For anyone that doesn't know, you pay £104 up front and then all prescription charges are covered for the year, it works out cheaper if you need more than one prescription per month.
My partner has had this for some years for several conditions and all has been fine.
Unfortunately, due to a mental lapse (related to her condition but that's by-the-by), she picked up some prescriptions from the chemist thinking she was still covered by the pre-payment, but she didn't realise until several weeks later that she wasn't covered as the pre-payment card had lapsed and she should have paid for them.
She contacted the chemist as soon as she realised, offering to pay. Unfortunately they said that they didn't have the prescription forms any more, so they couldn't process a payment. The forms had been sent back to the NHS for processing at their centre.
I contacted the NHS pre-payment centre and offered to pay for the prescriptions and they said:
1. They have no method to take payment
2. We'll have to wait up to a month to see if we will be fined
3. The fine will be £100 + the cost of the prescriptions :eek:
4. It's down to luck whether we'll be fined or not
How on earth can this be allowed? We realised we made a mistake, offered to correct that mistake as soon as we knew and they won't take money for it.
Instead, they'll refuse to take the money offered, issue a big fine and then charge for the prescriptions as well.
My partner has been off work ill for six months, I haven't been able to work as much as I should as I've been looking after her. We literally can't afford this.
It seems so wrong that they say there is no method to take payment, but they can take payment if they fine you, how does that work then?
The only possible light at the end of the tunnel is that the guy I spoke to said we could appeal it and he would put a note on our account saying we rang up to try and pay it. Whether that would make a difference or not...who knows.
Has anyone else had anything like this happen? Is there anything that can be done?
Thank you in advance.
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Comments
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Just wait and see what happens.
Thousands of people a year do this deliberately then cry and say it was a genuine mistake.
Not dsaying that you have done this but it is up to the patient to do the checking.
Try the appeal route, at least you have an ally in the pharmacist. Good luck.
Let us know how you get onmake the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
and we will never, ever return.0 -
TBH there is no excuse for the pre-payment certificate to lapse. You can get an auto-renewing annual certificate by paying by DD. This has been the case for a few years.
You can actually pay online on the day and then claim the prescription fee back0 -
unforeseen wrote: »TBH there is no excuse for the pre-payment certificate to lapse. You can get an auto-renewing annual certificate by paying by DD. This has been the case for a few years.
You can actually pay online on the day and then claim the prescription fee back
But the op didn't pay by dd...0 -
I have known people who have been caught out saying they had a certificate for a condition / maternity certificate / prepayment cert when they haven't got one - some have appealed and the fine set aside.0
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I never said or assumed that they didBut the op didn't pay by dd...
I merely pointed out that te facility has been available for a few years. If people do not avail themselves of the facilities available to ensure they don't fall foul of the certificate running out then they only have themselves to blame.0 -
unforeseen wrote: »I never said or assumed that they did
I merely pointed out that te facility has been available for a few years. If people do not avail themselves of the facilities available to ensure they don't fall foul of the certificate running out then they only have themselves to blame.
So, we've established it's the ops fault.
Any more helpful advice?0 -
Shouldn't have said anything, just bought a new card. The chances of those prescription(s) being randomly checked and you being found out was miniscule. But I'm afraid now you've owned up there's more than an even chance they'll go down the fine route.0
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Shouldn't have said anything, just bought a new card. The chances of those prescription(s) being randomly checked and you being found out was miniscule. But I'm afraid now you've owned up there's more than an even chance they'll go down the fine route.
Penalty notices are common, chances were definitely not miniscule.
OP there's no guarantee of a successful appeal but it is worth trying. In some circumstances they will cancel the fine and allow you to pay the charge.0 -
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BorisThomson wrote: »Penalty notices are common, chances were definitely not miniscule.
Well last figures I saw in England alone more than a billion prescriptions are written per year (c90% were 'free') and only something like 900k penalty notices were issued. So what's that 0.01%?0
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