Patients face 'unfair' fines on free prescriptions
Posted: 20 Feb 2015, 18:31Patients face 'unfair' fines on free prescriptions
By Nicola Lawrence and James Gallagher BBC News
20 February 2015 Last updated at 05:05
Patients with life-long conditions are being fined up to £100 for collecting their free prescriptions, the BBC has discovered.
They say they were not told of a rule change that meant their exemption certificates had to be updated.
Charities and pharmacists said patients were being labelled "fraudsters" and being "unfairly" punished.
The NHS said it was the "patient's own responsibility to check their entitlement".
Radio presenter Sybil Ruscoe told BBC Radio Oxford: "I have been fined for having free insulin.
"Hundreds of us have had fines in the post. Basically we're being criminalised for having a chronic illness.
"It's bad enough having type 1 diabetes - you have to prick yourself with needles seven or eight times a day - and now I'm being criminalised for doing something I wasn't told was wrong."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31537381
By Nicola Lawrence and James Gallagher BBC News
20 February 2015 Last updated at 05:05
Patients with life-long conditions are being fined up to £100 for collecting their free prescriptions, the BBC has discovered.
They say they were not told of a rule change that meant their exemption certificates had to be updated.
Charities and pharmacists said patients were being labelled "fraudsters" and being "unfairly" punished.
The NHS said it was the "patient's own responsibility to check their entitlement".
Radio presenter Sybil Ruscoe told BBC Radio Oxford: "I have been fined for having free insulin.
"Hundreds of us have had fines in the post. Basically we're being criminalised for having a chronic illness.
"It's bad enough having type 1 diabetes - you have to prick yourself with needles seven or eight times a day - and now I'm being criminalised for doing something I wasn't told was wrong."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31537381