I'm coming up to 55 this coming May.
When I reached the heady age of two, I was diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic and was given a Life Time 'Medical Exemption Certificate' to get all my medication's on prescription free...
I have never had to pay for any medication because of the M.E.C. and when I started to order the prescriptions for myself, I would tick the M.E. box and collect same and this has continued up to this day without problem...
Now, here's the funny part, 2 weeks ago I get a letter from the NHS Business Service, saying I had been given a Penalty Notice for a prescription in October and had declared I had a valid medical exemption certificate.
According to them, they had no evidence of this and as a consequence I had to pay the prescription charge of £32.20 plus a penalty charge of £100
I rang them to sort it out and was told there was no recourse, there was no one in authority I could discuss with and no appeal!
After I explained I was still a child when the medical exemption certificate was awarded to me and that they must have had a record of it in their database, again was told they had no evidence of one and that I must pay and apply for a 5 year one using the FP92A
She told me that my GP would have a copy of the PCE and that if I changed surgery it would have been sent on to the new GP's with my MR's
So I rang my GP's surgery and spoke with the receptionist, who after 5 minutes looking told me they didn't have it and that I should ring the Pharmacy and ask them.
I did and was told they had me down on their system as having a PCE but couldn't help me any more...
So, I collected a 'Form FP92A Application' and filled it in with a letter to my GP explaining what had happened and would he confirm that I had been a Type I Diabetic since 1962 and send it off to the NHS BS in the stamped address envelope supplied.
I also paid the £132.20 over the phone, job done, or so I thought!
Today I get another letter from the NHS BS this time for a repeat prescription in November, this time for £124.15 d'oh!!
So now I ring my GP Surgery and ask if they have sent it off, only to be told that it was to short a time for the GP to have filled in the form...
So now I have to fork out a total of £256.35 that will continue to increase if the FP92A the GP has it languishing still in his 'in tray' for much longer...
This is a deplorable situation, the main database is missing my original certificate and it seems no one else has a copy of it either, and because of this I'm to pay £256.35 for official incompetence for something I'm entitled to with no way of getting a reimbursement...
I was wondering if any one else here has had long term diabetes (30+ years ) that have had to pay for prescriptions because the NHS Business Services have said their database had no evidence of them having one, and what was the final outcome?
I am seriously thinking of passing this on to the local media to bring this out into the open, what do you think?
Stu...