Type 1: Prescription fine

So I'm being hit with £124 plus another £50 for not paying the fine in time when I was waiting back for a reply email as I was appealing.

I'd like to know how many people have had their fines waived. If you could leave your full name in a reply I think that would help others like me fight our case that they can just waiver the fine.

Isn't this a form of discrimination if they can waiver one persons and not another??
 
UPDATE........eventually got through after 20 minutes, operator did not understand why I was fined when I had a valid card, she promptly waivered the fine and updated my account.
 
tordy58 said:
UPDATE........eventually got through after 20 minutes, operator did not understand why I was fined when I had a valid card, she promptly waivered the fine and updated my account.
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I would have been tempted to say nothing and let them take me to court - where I would have waived my exemption card in their solicitors face. But well done you, for getting it sorted the nice way :angelic:.
 
molivers73 said:
Why would I eat humble pie if I have never been informed?
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I am surprised that no-one, including your pharmacist, has ever asked to see your certificate or put the certificate number on the prescription. :eek: I was told on the first day I got a prescription for diabetes meds (I used to have a private GP and paid for all my own meds, because I didn't really like the way NHS doctors treated me like an idiot... :mad: then I swallowed my pride and got wise!) I had no idea I was entitled but the pharmacist made it clear that I would have to pay a standard per-item prescription charge or get a certificate. They still ask to see it now and again and write the number in the appropriate spot on the form.

If you want to take it up with anyone, I would take it up with your pharmacist and ask them how they have allowed this to continue to the point where you are fined instead of them being hauled up for it!
 
molivers73 said:
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?
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I can go along with being fined if it turns out that you are not entitled, but this is beyond ridiculous .
 
I've never been asked for an exemption certificate in 38 years. I went along with the theory that it was issued by the NHS at diagnosis and was valid for a lifetime. Although I can't remember ever seeing such a document., I do remember paying for other drugs like antibiotics as, I had no idea that these were also exempt and the pharmacist never advised me. For the first 15 years or so all I received without charge was insulin, since needles and syringes were were not provided on prescription, until the govt. decided to give them away free to drug addicts to minimise the spread of HIV etc. and then realised that they would need to include insulin dependent diabetics. I owned a lab testing business and used to buy my own test strips (BM Stix) with a company order.
 
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I cannot understand why people are having problems with being hit for the costs of prescriptions because they don't have a 'Valid Medical Exemption Certificate'.

When you sign the prescription and tick Box E you are declaring that you have the certificate. If you haven't got the certificate it is fraud - plain and simple!

Pharmacists do not police the system that is done by the office in Newcastle.

Newcastle are not bothered about the drugs on the prescription, they do a spot check on random prescriptions and are only checking the entitlement that has been declared with the signature.

Remember that signature is a declaration of entitlement - no certificate is no entitlement !!
 
I have an exemption certificate.
It was my chemist who advised me of this.
I had been paying prepayment certificates previously.
I was a bit miffed because my GP never informed me.
What I understand is that the chemist may ask to see your cert but will still accept your word if you tell them you have one and just tick your script to verify they have not seen it.
I was only ever asked for mine once.
What I do find though is that often chemists will ask if you are exempt and then tick the box after you have signed it.
Therefore not legally valid as you can not be held responsible for them ticking it after you signed it.
Anywhere I`m sure that anyone who has ticked a box quite innocently will not be pursued.
Lots of people do tick one of the boxes and falsely claim, this practice needs stamping on.
 
Time Lord said:
I have an exemption certificate.
It was my chemist who advised me of this.
I had been paying prepayment certificates previously.
I was a bit miffed because my GP never informed me.
What I understand is that the chemist may ask to see your cert but will still accept your word if you tell them you have one and just tick your script to verify they have not seen it.
I was only ever asked for mine once.
What I do find though is that often chemists will ask if you are exempt and then tick the box after you have signed it.
Therefore not legally valid as you can not be held responsible for them ticking it after you signed it.
Anywhere I`m sure that anyone who has ticked a box quite innocently will not be pursued.
Lots of people do tick one of the boxes and falsely claim, this practice needs stamping on.
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You only need to sign the prescription if you have ticked a box, so the argument that the pharmacist could tick a box later wouldn't work.
 
I was diagnosed in 2000 and was given an application for a medical exemption certificate then by my diabetes nurse. I have had one ever since. When I first attend a pharmacy, I have to show it but where I go regularly they con't expect me to produce it each time. However, if i need to collect something for my sister who is also diabetic I have to have her card with me.

I would assume that those who were diagnosed under 16 have slipped through the net and it should have been up to their GP or Diabetic nurse to make sure they had applied.
 
Pipp said:
You only need to sign the prescription if you have ticked a box, so the argument that the pharmacist could tick a box later wouldn't work.
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You always need to sign a prescription as either the patient or on behalf of someone else. This is done regardless of any boxes you tick.
 
Not here you don't. Only sign if you don't pay, after ticking box to say which form of exemption you are claiming.
 
Sancho panza said:
I believe our @graj0
Maybe able to help here
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Sorry that I'm only just getting to this thread after so long, I got something through eMail that I am now looking at, as there are 20 pages, I haven't looked at all of it but it sounds completely bonkers. What are the powers that be up to?
I was diagnosed type II in 1997 and they knew from my prescription that I was diabetic and was never asked to produce an exemption certificate. Now I'm over 60 prescriptions are free anyway, so no problems . . . . . . yet.
I know that Liam lives in Scotland where they pay no prescription charges at all.
I think if molivers73 has been issued with this fine and it's a mistake then surely you just have to say that it's a mistake. If some rule has been introduced whereby a certificate is required, how was that information conveyed to anybody that it affected, as I mentioned, I have never had anything. The pharmacist must be giving out the insulin (I think I saw type I mentioned) and surely the pharmacist should have known.
There seems to be a trend where people are being handed fines and I think the powers that be just hope people panic and pay up. I'll see them in hell first. Just like Parking Eye who recently fines me £100 for parking in Kingston Hospital, with a disabled badge. I was taking my dad for an appointment and he was all for paying up, I said I'd go to jail first. Luckily PALS were very good in helping to sort that particular problem, but if my dad had been on his own, he would just have paid, perhaps that's what they hope will happen here.
 
CarbsRok said:
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.
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If youre a type 1 diabetic, you automatically qualify. So why fine people? Why not just send a letter? Or even better, send the form to fill out and return? From 1985 to 2010 i didnt have an exemption certificate. It was only when i moved to a new gp and pharmacy that prompted me to get one. There has not been enough info on this issue. I think the nhs should draw a line in the sand. Advise people properly. And insist on a certificate from now on.



Edited to remove personal opinions about another poster. CC
 
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Being entitled to something doesn't mean you are exempt from following the rules. I was born in England and so am entitled to a passport, I still have to apply for one though. The Gov't can't make rules for those who are not "on the ball". Time and again people are posting and trying to blame everyone else apart from themselves. If I had been fined, I'd be pretty upset but no point in trying to blame my chemist, doctor, nurse, MP or anyone else. The rules are simple, just follow them. You sign the back of a prescription to say you hold a current medical exemption certificate. That's not a legal technicality ? I do agree a fine is not necessary though and is harsh for a first offence. That is what I would be trying to get changed, not the rules. They are simple.
 
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