Prescription fines

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Vanster

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
i became a t1 diabetic in 1980 age 7. A usual story. I was told by my diabetic consultant and my GP at the time that I would be medical exempt for prescription charges for life or until they found a cure for diabetes. They still haven’t. So every few weeks I get a prescription tick the box medicallly exempted and all is fine.
Unfortunately recently either me or the chemist ticked the box below by mistake which is exempt because I’m pregnant. Well I’m a man so that’s wrong. A few months go by and I’ve had letter telling me I’m being fined. When I contact them saying hold on I’m a type one diabetic I’ve got medical exemption they say no you haven’t got a valid one. Turns out they only last 10 years?? No one told me that. I assumed in was for life??
Anyway they say “if you apply for medical exemption and get it I will only have to pay the prescription charge. So I do. I’ve now been sent a second fine for an earlier prescription??? And now it’s £17.40 I have to pay?
If they keep doing this for the last 10,000 or so prescribed scripts I will be bankrupt. My only argument is unknown knowledge and the fact they. Never told me.
Has anyone else encountered this and what have you done?
 
This information is useful from the Diabetes UK site https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/people-with-diabetes-fined-for-claiming-free-prescriptions

and the more recent update

11 April 2018
Growing numbers of people with diabetes are being fined up to £100 for claiming free prescriptions, despite using insulin or medicine to manage their diabetes. This is because they do not have a medical exemption certificate.

Following our campaign, the process has changed and if people are issued with a fine, they do now have the chance to apply for a certificate to prove their eligibility and have the fine cancelled. However, if people claim a free prescription without a medical exemption certificate they will have to pay for that prescription.

Why is this happening?
The prescription exemption checking service was centralised in 2014, following years of administration at a local level. This led to the large number of people with diabetes being fined. It also revealed a widespread lack of awareness amongst people with diabetes and healthcare professionals about the need for medical exemption certificates. The long-term lack of enforcement had led to a common, and understandable misconception, that having diabetes treated by medication or insulin alone was the criteria for claiming free prescriptions.

I hope you can get things sorted.
 
I feel for anyone having to deal with this Agency. We had to in relation to a close relative and it was a complete nightmare! We eventually got them to agree to cancel the penalty but it took sending the same info 3 times to achieve it and 6 long phone calls! 4 months later it bounced back again as unpaid so the whole hullabaloo started again. My husband battled with them for days before we could get them to acknowledge the matter had already been closed! The whole thing happened whilst my mother was dying and frankly made me feel ill.
 
This happened to me when first diagnosed and waiting for my card, fortunately when I rang up I spoke to an understanding person and they overturned it.
 
Basically what you did was tick a box to say you had a valid exemption certificate, as yo hadn't got one you received a fine and prescription charges.

Your best bet is to eat humble pie in a written appeal and make sure you have a certificate which can be filled in by your GP and sent off
 
I know I keep banging on about this, but it costs a fortune to monitor this system. It’s cheaper to give everyone free prescriptions as they do in Scotland. Of course, quite a few people lose their jobs if you do that, but that’s the point.
 
mikeyB said:
I know I keep banging on about this, but it costs a fortune to monitor this system. It’s cheaper to give everyone free prescriptions as they do in Scotland. Of course, quite a few people lose their jobs if you do that, but that’s the point.
Click to expand...
I'm sure a lot of those people would be able to be gainfully employed as customs officers, come Brexit 😉
 
I’m a bit worried about this after reading this thread. As I applied for medical exception but didn’t realise you had to renew so I’m going to have to go get a form tomorrow to rectify this.

Will the fact I renew now after so long trigger them to realise and they give me a fine for every prescription in between?
 
MarkGeordie said:
I’m a bit worried about this after reading this thread. As I applied for medical exception but didn’t realise you had to renew so I’m going to have to go get a form tomorrow to rectify this.

Will the fact I renew now after so long trigger them to realise and they give me a fine for every prescription in between?
Click to expand...
No Mark, didn't happen to me - I was 2 years late renewing mine, thought they were every 10 years not 5, and never got a reminder 🙄 The certificates are backdated to a month before application date as well.
 
I can confirm that I did get a letter reminding me that my card was due to expire in Nov and letter arrived one month before.

They have issued me new card however it it is dated from September - one month before I and the doctor applied filled out the form and sent it off.

There is a website ( beta test, so may not be wholly accurate) to check whether your card is due to expire.

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-certificates
Scroll down the page and try the checker.
Also don't forget if you use an online/pharmacy prescrption service to let them know your card has been renewed.
 
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