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Original poster

Invoice for prescriptions from an a and e visit

132 replies

scooterbear · 21/01/2022 09:34

I've received a letter this morning from the NHS invoicing me for 5 seperate prescription charges that I incurred during an a and e visit following a serious accident in December-drugs used during my immediate treatment in a and e. When did this become a thing?!
I will obviously pay it (I can just about afford it) and I still recognise that it's immensely good Value considering all the NHS resource I used (ambulance, drs, x ray, scans, etc etc). I was just a bit surprised as I've never heard of this sort of back dated prescription charging before?
What happens to people that need emergency treatment but can't afford the back dated prescription charges?

OP posts:

takemetomars · 21/01/2022 10:19

@scooterbear

No phone number or address for query on the letter-just a number for payments which is an automated answering system

Do not pay this. I too think it is a fraud

Papyrus · 21/01/2022 10:19

I've been charged for drugs prescribed in A&E and taken home, but not the ones actually taken in A&E. So for example when in A&E for an asthma attack, I received an invoice for the course of steroids I was sent home with, but not the nebuliser or steroids I was given while being treated. I think that's fairly normal.

Original poster

scooterbear · 21/01/2022 10:20

Here's the whole letter-remote to cover my name

Invoice for prescriptions from an a and e visit

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General health

ApolloandDaphne · 21/01/2022 10:21

That's not right. My DM broke her arm recently and wasn't charged for the drugs given to her whilst in A&E.

Original poster

scooterbear · 21/01/2022 10:22

I wasn't sent home with anything I didn't pay for-we had to go the pharmacy with the prescription on the way out with the prescription for pain relief which we paid fir as usual

OP posts:

Soontobe60 · 21/01/2022 10:23

@scooterbear

I'm a uk national. Hospital in Essex. DP went the next day to the hospital pharmacy for ongoing pain medication which we paid for as normal. But the date on the letter refers to the date of the emergency trip to a and e, the day before.

So you were charged for meds you got from the pharmacy, rather than for meds you took whilst in hospital? If so, that’s standard practice.

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 21/01/2022 10:24

No that's not right at all!? Can you call the hospital?

Topseyt · 21/01/2022 10:24

Query it rather than pay it. Certainly at first.

If you were an in-patient at the time then this may well be an admin error and you have been sent a bill that should have gone elsewhere.

GiltEdges · 21/01/2022 10:25

*Plus I was unconscious for most of it! I've no idea what went on.

Like I said I will pay it-but I've never heard of this before.*

OP, you really should query this before paying it. How could you consent to the medication being dispensed (and thus, even potentially, be responsible for paying for it) if you weren't even conscious at the time?

As you referenced up thread, there are people who just couldn't afford that as an unexpected bill.

BitcherOfBlakiven · 21/01/2022 10:28

Absolutely don’t pay it without querying first! With the hospital, with the prescription phone line.

Toddlerteaplease · 21/01/2022 10:29

I thought that drugs dispensed from hospital were free. (Though I'm a paediatric nurse so all our patients are on free prescriptions) some discharge letters do now have the costs on. But it's not an invoice.

Topseyt · 21/01/2022 10:30

So you were charged for meds you got from the pharmacy, rather than for meds you took whilst in hospital? If so, that’s standard practice.

OP has specifically said that this was for drugs used while she was in A & E, not the ones she got from the pharmacy on or after discharge.

So this is not standard practice and is unlikely to be correct.

Soontobe60 · 21/01/2022 10:30

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/who-can-get-free-prescriptions/
According to this, you only get free prescriptions if you’re an NHS inpatient. Being in A+E doesn’t mean you’re an inpatient, that only happens if you’re then admitted to hospital.
I guess as the NHS is on its knees financially, they have to do whatever they can to claw back spending! I wonder what would happen if someone didn’t pay their invoice?

IAmMeThisIsI · 21/01/2022 10:30

OP I can't quite make your letter out. Does it list the names of items you're charged for? Anyway, sounds like a mistake either way. Contact them before sending money my love.

EvilPea · 21/01/2022 10:31

Ours you have to go and pay at a machine, get a voucher and then get your prescription

Phelescent · 21/01/2022 10:31

Why ask on here if you are you so adamant you want to pay it? Plenty of advice here telling you to query it first which is the obvious thing to do surely.

Soontobe60 · 21/01/2022 10:33

@Topseyt

So you were charged for meds you got from the pharmacy, rather than for meds you took whilst in hospital? If so, that’s standard practice.

OP has specifically said that this was for drugs used while she was in A & E, not the ones she got from the pharmacy on or after discharge.

So this is not standard practice and is unlikely to be correct.

I read about it being whilst she was in A+E after I wrote my post. However, it most certainly is standard practice to be charged for meds from the hospital pharmacy that you take home. It’s also correct that you’re supposed to pay for meds whilst in A+E unless you’re admitted to hospital. Being in A+E isn’t the same as being admitted. www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/who-can-get-free-prescriptions/

Soontobe60 · 21/01/2022 10:34

@Toddlerteaplease

They are - if you’ve been admitted.

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 21/01/2022 10:36

@Soontobe60 I have never had to pay for drugs when I have been to A&E and neither has DP. I have been admitted before but there have been times we've both been for treatment and received drugs and not been charged.

mrsm43s · 21/01/2022 10:37

Is the invoice for drugs used for your inpatient treatment, administered to you by hospital staff, whilst you were admitted to hospital? Or drugs prescribed by A&E staff which you were given to take home with you. I would expect the latter to be chargeable, but not the former.

Topseyt · 21/01/2022 10:39

@Soontobe60

I have been in A & E more than once and never been charged for drugs used there, whether admitted or not. I have only paid for drugs I had to take home from the pharmacy afterwards.

It isn't standard practice, and I believe OP was admitted anyway.

Motnight · 21/01/2022 10:42

Definitely query it Op.

mrsm43s · 21/01/2022 10:42

Now I'm wondering whether A&E counts as an "inpatient". Presumably its "outpatients". That said, when I've had minor surgery as an outpatient, I've never been charged for the meds used to do the surgery (local anaesthetic etc), but I have been charged for the painkillers etc to be taken home. But they've been collected from the hospital pharmacy and paid for at the point of collection.

Limer · 21/01/2022 10:44

Phone the invoice Queries number on the top left of the letter.

Original poster

scooterbear · 21/01/2022 10:44

I've actually just seen on the letter a query number so I will call.
I wasn't admitted but was in a and e from 8pm to 11am the day after then sent home. Back for surgery the day after that.
The point of my question was to see if this had become a common practice that I'd just been unaware of. Because as pp said there are lots of people that couldn't afford it and it's not been made obvious anywhere that this now happens. I just wondered is all.

OP posts:

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