Type 1: Prescription fine

[caretaker]

I have just spoken to NHS BSA and have been told my penalties have been waived but that I still have to pay the prescription charges. I'm not paying. In 1999, I was given lifetime exemption when diagnosed Type 1. Diabetes UK is meeting the Department of Health to discuss this issue next week. As if any of us with Type 1 would do anything to risk our insulin supply! Madness. I have NEVER been asked for a certificate in 16 years. The criteria for free insulin for diabetics goes back to 1968 - we have never been told that this has changed.

Well done
we still need the prescription charges drop because these might go back pre 2015
How did you find out about that Diabetes UK is meeting the Department of Health.next week
and will we no the put come?

 

[dannyw]

that is not how #614 reads.

Furthermore, I have been ticking box E for 40 yeas in the true and honest belief that I did have a current and valid medical exemption certificate, it's bad enough arguing with NHS BSA without having people on this forum saying the same thing that NHS BSA is saying. No pharmacy has ever asked for my card, the card has languished somewhere for 40 years without me going back and checking it. There has never been a reminder sent to the original address, which was my parents' address where they still reside. No pharmacy has ever written on my prescription "card not seen", if they did, they did it when I was not present.

In my mind, I knew what I was signing, I thought and believed I was correct.

I have made a couple of posts already about this fact., please go back and read them, it is totally unfair for people to come into a thread without having read through its entirety, which I did before I got involved.

And if you look back throughout this thread you'll note I've been an active poster from the start. I have read things through. I just thought your post was a bit of a personal attack because you just didn't agree with it. I'm not trying to dissuade you. You have your opinion, I have mine. I do wonder how you thought you held a certificate without actually holding one but that's your decision.
So, that's my opinion, I think I have every right to one, as you do. Unsure why you think it's unfair for me to have one. Thanks.

 

[dannyw]

No, trust me, I definitely have an opinion. It's not one you agree with but hey ho. I have difficulty understanding how someone assumes they have a certificate when in fact they don't. I'm not suggesting entitlement, that is completely different. As for the law, you may well be right, in a court of law, you may well argue your case successfully, in fact, I hope you do. Still, that doesn't mean I am not entitled to an opinion.

 

[noblehead]

Back on topic people and less of the bickering and personal attacks, it's been a constructive thread thus far with some great discussions, lets not derail the thread any more as it achieves nothing.

 

[dannyw]

I hope you have a positive outcome too Brian. Good luck.

 

[sunshine84]

Ah good luck everyone. It is the most frustrating thing, regardless of what anyone thought they were doing all we want is the medication and care that we need! I did have a postive result with mine and I truely hope many more have the same outcome.
Onwards and upwards!

Sent from my GT-I9100P using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[betic]

I really don't understand why the gps don't automatically print on your prescription that you are exempt from any charges as they are in full knowledge of your medical condition and this would surely eradicate the need to have an nhs business enforcement department......or would that be too simple for the nhs .?

I have had a penalty fine just land and to be honest I had my exemption form completed 7 years ago and it's been in my drawer since and I have only just checked because of the fine and realised its ran out..

Of course I will not pay and send a covering letter in, which is all the more difficult for me as I didn't have my glasses with me and ticked the wrong box anyway...lol...

It's easier for this money making arm to just send out these letters and then expect the genuine ones to prove they are entitled to free prescriptions as it is cost effective as they only have to send a letter and it also catches the trickers out who won't or are unable to pay,,,,,,win win for them..

I am all for the nhs but sometimes feel that the system has been abused by so many foreigners and the likes ...they have to do this stuff to cut the costs somehow,,,sadly we genuine cases get caught up in the cleanup...

I have today gone and got a form ready to fill in so I believe it's doing its job in one way, just think that there should be an exemption clause in for genuinely daft people like me who forget after never having used an exemption card for five years that I must check it more often and the chemists should ask for one...

it's easy to chase us as we are sitting ducks while 100s of thousands of pounds gets written off for the foreigners who come here just to get free treatment and don't stump up

 

[mikecambrai]

My husband has received a letter - a penalty charge notice for £124.15. He was diagnosed with type 1 in 1998 age 18, he doesn't remember ever being told about the card and doesn't remember ever having one.
He has spoken to the BSA this evening and they have said they can only check back 2 years and he hasn't had one in that time.
He went to the DR surgery and the receptionist and the practice nurse were very surprised at the letter.
He has now applied for a card but we really don't want to pay this fine! especially when the prescription was for test strips insulin and needles. I find it really hard to believe that they are unable to see that the prescription was for insulin - something only used for diabetes - and being diabetic means free prescriptions - and still send out a £100 fine and also charge him for the medication?? GRRRR.

 

[mikecambrai]

Where I live, there doesn't seem to be much of an issue being made over the exemption card. My GP practice has not put a notice in the surgery and my pharmacy hasn't either which is worrying as the pharmacy is aware of the fines but has done nothing to warn people

The NHS is promoting incompetence as an art form. If there is a regulation set by some petty bureaucrat which obviously very few people including me know nothing about then there should be a counter fine for the idiots at the NHS who introduce something and hide the rule. The object always with this incompetent organisation is to get money from anyone in an underhand way. They set up these fines to us. We should be able to counter claim for gross incompetence in not telling us or the GP's or the Pharmacies what the system is. Let them pay each diabetic user £100 for this incompetence from their own pockets. After all it is industrial misconduct not to carry out your work fairly and reasonably!

 

[BigRedSwitch]

Bonkers, this, isn't it? I mean, my Mum and Dad are both > 60 - they don't need a certificate to prove that, and let's face it, they have as much chance of ever being under 60 again as I do not being Type 1 Diabetic...

By very nature of the fact you have been prescribed insulin you should be exempt - but I guess that would take someone actually thinking about it, as opposed to just being bureaucratic ...



Impolite word removed.

 

[JNN]

It is very sad to see everyone blaming everyone else the GP should do this, the pharmacy should do that. No it is about people taking responsibility for their own health!

 

[maggieoldbird]

Hi I have just received a letter saying i have to pay a £96 fine for not having a valid medical exemption certificate. I was diagnosed Type 1 in 1998 and have never paid for prescriptions since. Nobody has ever told me about this. Has anyone else had the same thing and if so what was the outcome?

I received similar letter recently, when i rang the number in the letter a very nice lady informed me that my exemption certificate ran out in November. She waived the penalty charge there and then but reiterated that it is my responsibility to ensure my certificate is up to date at all times. To date i have been waiting for a new certificate for 5 weeks, have just filled out the form for the 3rd time. GP 's receptionist insists they have sent them, NHSBSA states they haven't received them so I'm stuck in the middle and at this moment paying for my prescriptions.

 

[BigRedSwitch]

It is very sad to see everyone blaming everyone else the GP should do this, the pharmacy should do that. No it is about people taking responsibility for their own health!

The people who are to blame is not the GP, nor the chemist. It's the NHS.

I'm a BIG defender of the NHS - I think we're really lucky to have it - but there's no point in making people re-apply for prescription exemption where the only way they won't be Type 1 Diabetic anymore is if they DIE!

The very fact that we get prescriptions for Insulin should be enough to illustrate the fact that we have a life-long illness, and that is NEVER going to change!

I really do find it difficult to tolerate blatant stupidity. Stuff like this doesn't even require reasoning skill - it's as plain as the nose on the nose of the idiot who thought it was a good idea to have 5 year limits on the certificates...

 

[MonsterLC]

Remember the NHS and Government are desperate for money. So they have seen an opportunity to make money by fining people and now they are going to fine as many people as possible. Like people have said, you have insulin on your prescription therefore you are diabetic or getting it for a diabetic person... you wouldn't be getting insulin to make money from eBay....

Of course they could have much more money in the NHS if they get all the tax avoiding MP's and party donors money?

 

[Johngreer]

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in September 2013.
I needed prescription straight away.
My doctor gave me the form after stamping it and filling it in plus the prepaid envelope.
he did NOT put the letter in the envelope but said that i should show the letter to the pharmacy to order the medication and if they have a problem they were to ring the surgery.
All i needed was photo ID and the pharmacy accepted the letter as proof i was exempt from the charges for prescriptions.
I got my meds the following day and my Medical Exemption Certificate 2 weeks later.
Don't trust your GP to post the form, do it yourself, even at the cost of a stamp.

 

[iHs]

Remember the NHS and Government are desperate for money. So they have seen an opportunity to make money by fining people and now they are going to fine as many people as possible. Like people have said, you have insulin on your prescription therefore you are diabetic or getting it for a diabetic person... you wouldn't be getting insulin to make money from eBay....

Of course they could have much more money in the NHS if they get all the tax avoiding MP's and party donors money?

A good way to generate more money into the NHS would be to have a lottery type scheme set up so that people could buy a lottery ticket and proceeds used to generate funding. Every year we could have Cancer In Need

 

[berryian60]

Hi I have just received a letter saying i have to pay a £96 fine for not having a valid medical exemption certificate. I was diagnosed Type 1 in 1998 and have never paid for prescriptions since. Nobody has ever told me about this. Has anyone else had the same thing and if so what was the outcome?

diabetics dont pay for things from chemiseds i never have

 

[lostonrye]

Hi You need an exemption certificate, which you should have obtained and renewed every 5 years after diagnoses.
Basically what you have done is signed your prescription saying you have an exemption certificate when you do not, so as far as the nhs is concerned it's a fraudulent claim. So eat humble pie get the form filled in and signed by your GP and send it off.

 

[lostonrye]

Hi I have just received a letter saying i have to pay a £96 fine for not having a valid medical exemption certificate. I was diagnosed Type 1 in 1998 and have never paid for prescriptions since. Nobody has ever told me about this. Has anyone else had the same thing and if so what was the outcome?

Hi the NHS has farmed this service out to a debt recovery agency, who will get a percentage of the cash recovered. you should always appeal and also if you are on a low income ask for a payment plan They cannot force you to pay a recovery debt that will leave rent or mortgage and gas electric bills unpaid
if you go to court they would need prove you were trying to obtain a treatment or drug by fraud. But if you were entitled to it free but just omitted to fill out a form. This is a mistake not a fraud. These government services are turning out to be not unlike money lenders. with threats and sharp practices.
five minutes late for a meeting at the job centre get stopped a weeks benefit.And they wonder why the term "Nasty party is used".
In a similar way these money grabbing companies are set up and hide no parking signs.
to catch people out.Its a nasty money grabbing Everyman for himself attitude fostered by the tax dodging elite.We are told we are the sixth largest economy but most of the wealth is drifting up to the very top.

 

[ewan]

Hi the NHS has farmed this service out to a debt recovery agency, who will get a percentage of the cash recovered. you should always appeal and also if you are on a low income ask for a payment plan They cannot force you to pay a recovery debt that will leave rent or mortgage and gas electric bills unpaid
if you go to court they would need prove you were trying to obtain a treatment or drug by fraud. But if you were entitled to it free but just omitted to fill out a form. This is a mistake not a fraud. These government services are turning out to be not unlike money lenders. with threats and sharp practices.
five minutes late for a meeting at the job centre get stopped a weeks benefit.And they wonder why the term "Nasty party is used".
In a similar way these money grabbing companies are set up and hide no parking signs.
to catch people out.Its a nasty money grabbing Everyman for himself attitude fostered by the tax dodging elite.We are told we are the sixth largest economy but most of the wealth is drifting up to the very top.