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Type 1: Prescription fine

Sounds pretty ridiculous to me ... ask your gp for a letter of support and appeal it. At the end of the day they are right, but the fine seems unreasonable. Also don't forget the government / court can issue a fine so if it came direct from the nhs then all they can do is change costs, which you can appeal as well. If in doubt seek help from your local authority money advice or CAB.
 
First time I heard about the exemption was when picking up a prescription that my local pharmacy. Pharmacist asked me to sign the prescription - I had no idea why, but I signed it (I tend to trust the person that dispenses my meds...). I must have looked very confused because he asked "you have the certificate, right?". Of course I didn't! So he told me to go to my gp (next door) and fill out the form.

No one at the hospital clinic told me that I need a certificate (or even can have free meds) and my gp only asked me a few months later if I filled the form. I was eligible to free meds even before diabetes diagnosis due to other conditions and I was paying for all my prescriptions!

If not for the pharmacist I would probably be facing a fine myself as well! I have to say, there's a terrible lack of information to the patients.
 
These exemptions need to be put up on GPs and chemists. All pharmacies dispensing diabetic meds and paraphernalia should be informing their patients when they hand scripts over.
 
I think the message is now getting home, I picked up a prescription on Tuesday and was asked if I had a certificate. Once produced it was duly marked as seen on the prescription.
I also spoke to the GP's practice manager and explained what was going on. A poster is now on display at the surgery reception desk.
 
What annoys me about this card is that no one tells you what it is, or how you go about getting one, even my diabetes team have never mentioned it. Without coming to these forums I wouldn't have had a clue you could get a card like this. Ticked the box for the first time yesterday and the lady behind the desk asked me to show my card. Thankfully I have one!
 
The opposite of what happened to me then. I ticked the box and tried to give the pharmacist my details and he wasn't interested..... He refused to take them.
 
I find this all really disturbing, I can absolutely see both sides of the ongoing argument but as a T1 I really do feel that this fine Is very harsh. Surely some form of warning could've been sent to advise that there wasnt a valid exemption card in place, if this was ignored and another prescription was filed then absolutely send a fine?

I live in Scotland, do I still need an exemption card? As again I've never been advised or made aware that this was a requirement for diabetics. The girls in the pharmacy always just looked at my prescription and said 'oh you're a diabetic so don't pay for prescriptions, sign here....'
 
I do have a valid card, and was given one when I was first diagnosed over ten years ago. There was a gap of five years where I did not own one. It was only during a conversation that I mentioned it and the pharmacist casually asked if I wanted it renewing. I have NEVER been asked to show one in the entire ten plus years I have been diabetic.

I am afraid that I don't subscribe to the unhelpful and arrogant attitude that one member seems to love repeating on here. It is absolutely unacceptable to fine people on a detail of paperwork, when an underlying condition means that medication is exempt by law. This means that essentially you are being fined on bureaucracy rather than fraud. A ridiculous situation, especially as in many cases signing up for a card is clearly not observed as a formal part of the process during diagnosis and initial treatment.

I would ring and politely ask to be refunded and if threatened with court I would simple go for it. No court in the UK would uphold a fine regarding this. - it would be thrown out in seconds.
 
Does anybody else wonder what else is going to be thrown at us? It seems like just as we get half way up the mountain, someone extends it by another 3000ft.
 
I was asked the other day if I had an exemption certificate after ticking the relevant box. Pharmacist then wrote the cert number on the prescription and signed it.
 
pshuttle said:
I am afraid that I don't subscribe to the unhelpful and arrogant attitude that one member seems to love repeating on here. It is absolutely unacceptable to fine people on a detail of paperwork, when an underlying condition means that medication is exempt by law.

I would ring and politely ask to be refunded and if threatened with court I would simple go for it. No court in the UK would uphold a fine regarding this. - it would be thrown out in seconds.
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I'm not sure you do have a right by law to an exemption in England. The wording on all the NHS websites describes it as an entitlement, and very clearly states that you need to have BOTH the condition and the exemption certificate.

On the basis that it is an entitlement and that it is stated pretty clearly, a court would probably uphold the decision on the basis that ignorance is no defence.

Whether I agree with this point of view is another matter, but as people get off charges due to technicalities, so does it work the other way.

The NHS is going after people who, according to its rules, are not entitled to free prescriptions because they have a condition that allows them to request an exemption certificate but have not done this.

Whilst it's not pretty, it's a probably one of the easiest and simplest cases to close down quickly from an investigatory viewpoint. I believe the term is "Bummer".
 
I think you would be surprised Tim. In spite of the actual written wording of the entitlement, a court would usually look deeper in matters such as these. It would look to see if intentional fraud had been committed, and when this is found to not be the case with someone with Type 1 Diabetes, would be irritated that the NHS chose to pursue it through a court.
 
I live in Wales - land of song and free prescriptions :)
I was wondering if I was in travelling in England (as I do now and again) and had to get an emergency prescription for fresh insulin - would I have to pay for it?
 
pshuttle said:
I think you would be surprised Tim. In spite of the actual written wording of the entitlement, a court would usually look deeper in matters such as these. It would look to see if intentional fraud had been committed, and when this is found to not be the case with someone with Type 1 Diabetes, would be irritated that the NHS chose to pursue it through a court.
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I certainly hope that is the case (even though I do have an exemption certificate). I'm not sure what the Judiciary's opinion is in general when it relates to poor communication of new rules by the medical profession. There are many members of the public for whom this would be the case.

Interestingly, you don't want to read this document, which suggests that three and not five years should be the length an exemption lasts for.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213884/dh_116367.pdf

i don't know the details of when exemption certificates were introduced, but I recall that when I left full time education (around 17 years ago) I knew that I needed to apply for one, so they aren't a new thing. They may even have been in place from the word go in 1968, when the exemption list was introduced!
 
logindetails said:
I live in Wales - land of song and free prescriptions :)
I was wondering if I was in travelling in England (as I do now and again) and had to get an emergency prescription for fresh insulin - would I have to pay for it?
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Having just sepnt half an hour digging around on the web, you have to apply for some sort of "entitlement card" in Wales that you can present at an English Pharmacy to avoid being charged. Same seems to apply for Scottish prescriptions.

Having said that, Pharmacists are advised that, if someone ticks the Medical Exemption Certificate box, to tick the evidence not seen and still dispense. So I'm not sure whether that clears or muddies the water.

Likewise, once your pharmacist has seen your medical exemption certificate and has that on file, they are advised that they need not check again until the expiry date is gone.
 
I was diagnosed in 1972 and have never possessed an exemption certificate. At no point during this time has a pharmacist, nurse, consultant or GP said anything about the existence of such certificates. I don't need one now of course (over 60).
 
It's bureaucratic ******** :confused:
I'll bet that this exemption certificate nonsense costs the NHS more in running than it saves in fraudulent misuse.
They should just leave it up to the doctor to sign the prescription stating that due to your medical condition you are entitled to free prescriptions.
They're probably levying these fines in an attempt to claw some losses back :meh:
 
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