When they ask "do you pay for your/prescription/eye test/dental treatment?

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What checks do they do?

I've always paid and it's never occurred to me not to but it does occur that if either, you're in a position where £8.80 is a lot of money or you're a con artist it might be very tempting/easy to say "no I don't" and take it all free?

Does the NHS lose a lot of money like this?

When I was pregnant I didn’t realise I needed to actually send off for an actual exemption certificate, not just the Matb1 form. I got fined for dental treatment when I was 8.5m pregnant- fair enough- but it did baffle me. I can understand collecting prescriptions etc, but performing dental work on Someone you’d have thought they’d take a dentists word for it! I got the cost of treatment knocked off once I showed ds’s birth certificate, but the fine still stood. Learned my lesson. The midwives seem very reluctant to hand out MatB1 forms, I had to beg for mine to give to work.

If the pharmacy staff don’t provide a certificate number on your prescription, even if you tick the box, you can be fined by the way. I think they randomly check a certain percentage. My fine was for dental treatment at the dentist (ie cost of appointment)

I have recently received 3 fines for £110 each because of a mix up. I do not pay for my prescriptions but there had been an issue at DWP and in that time I had collected 4 prescriptions. The prescriptions were dated in May, I received the fines in September. Once I had provided proof they acknowledged the fines had been removed, I had to provide proof for all three fines as they had all been issued separately.

I don't simply as I have a pre paid prescription card. They always ask for the card and write down the number and export date.

The others I think they do checks at a later date, and fines would come through the post. I dont know if they check them all, or just a selection.

There is a box on the back of the prescription that pharmacy staff can cross if you have told them you have an exemption (and have ticked the box), but you have not been able to show evidence of it. So these prescriptions can then be looked at more closely by the payment authority. So if the person is except, fine, no harm done. However if they are not then they will be fined.

I wonder who would pay in this instance, a friend picks up her friends prescription and is told by her friend to tick she doesn't pay for them.
Later on it turns out she isn't entitled then who would be liable?

Not all pharmacies are good at checking. It costs England £256 million per year. People that cheat the system are no better than benefit frauds and tax evaders.

www.england.nhs.uk/2018/09/nhs-england-launches-campaign-urging-patients-to-check-before-you-tick-for-free-prescriptions/

I have a medical exemption card and have never been asked to show it. I think I offered it up the first time, but since then at multiple pharmacies they have never wanted to see it

I have a prepayment certificate and they do ask.

I incorrectly presumed my son who is at uni was entitled to free prescriptions so I ticked that box in Boots did not pay and never heard anything more.

Even if a pharmacy doesn’t check, the prescriptions are then checked against a database. I forgot to update my address when I moved and received a fine. I think it was £100 plus the charge of the prescription, although it was removed when I phoned and explained. Someone once said to me that 15% of prescriptions are checked but I received the fine for the only one that I got in between updating addresses so either that just happened to be in that 15% or else a lot more are checked in reality.

answer to a question posed to MP by Steve Brine

"The NHS Business Services Authority checks exemptions declared by patients on FP17PR forms against NHS Business Services Authority and the Department for Work and Pensions data. Where entitlement cannot be confirmed, the patient is sent a penalty charge notice and requested to confirm their entitlement or pay the applicable charges. If a valid exemption is found no further action is taken by the NHS Business Services Authority.

In the financial year 2017/18, 427,238 penalty charge notices were issued to claimants who claimed free dental treatment but no exemption could be found following the checking process."

This was released by GDC (general dental council) this week

Dh picked up my prescription once not realising my maternity exemption had expired and I got a fine and a strongly worded letter. So yes, they do check.

I always get asked to show my exemption card.

Yeah, I always went to the same pharmacist and I think that he just handed it over assuming I was still in the timeframe - as did I. It was my fault, it was no great tragedy.