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As a doctor, and a patient with a chronic illness, I was recently the recipient of such a penalty charge notice. I received a formal letter from the NHS Business Services Authority stating I had twice claimed free NHS prescriptions without being entitled to and they imposed a £100 fine. Knowing I had an in-date Prescription Prepayment Card, I went on to their website to challenge the amount I “owed”. I inputted my penalty charge reference number along with my current PPC number, and all was resolved immediately.
Seeing as one third of all charges are, like mine, withdrawn, I must agree with Rachel Power from the Patients Association, that an improved system of verifying who is entitled to free prescriptions prior to sending out these penalty charge notices, to potentially vulnerable people, is needed.
Re: Fines for claiming free prescriptions rose by 30% last year
As a doctor, and a patient with a chronic illness, I was recently the recipient of such a penalty charge notice. I received a formal letter from the NHS Business Services Authority stating I had twice claimed free NHS prescriptions without being entitled to and they imposed a £100 fine. Knowing I had an in-date Prescription Prepayment Card, I went on to their website to challenge the amount I “owed”. I inputted my penalty charge reference number along with my current PPC number, and all was resolved immediately.
Seeing as one third of all charges are, like mine, withdrawn, I must agree with Rachel Power from the Patients Association, that an improved system of verifying who is entitled to free prescriptions prior to sending out these penalty charge notices, to potentially vulnerable people, is needed.
Competing interests: No competing interests