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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be shocked about getting a bill from A&E in the NHS?!

137 replies

threeleftfeet · 30/05/2012 16:09

I took my friend to A&E a few weeks ago as she suffered an rare and extreme reaction to some antibiotics she was on.

(She got seen quicker than anyone I've ever seen in A&E. Apparently passing out on the front desk gets you seen quickly! Seriously though, she was not at all well.)

They kept her in for a night, did all sorts of tests, diagnosed her with a rare reaction to the antibiotics, gave her new antibiotics to replace the ones she'd been on, and sent her on her way in the morning.

Now, three weeks later she's received a bill in the post which demands payment for the medicine at the standard NHS prescription rate. It demands payments within 14 days, with the threat that they'll send it to a debt collection agency and add on a fiver if not received by then Shock

There was no mention of payment in the hospital. My friend is exempt from charges anyway, which they would have known if they'd but asked.

What happened to free on the point of delivery? I know we pay for prescription charges, but she was given the drugs in the hospital, this is a new one on me.

AIBU to be Shock at this?

OP posts:
BadgersRetreat · 30/05/2012 17:01

vast majority of healthcare here is free too - but woe betide you if you need an ambulance - that'll be two hundred bucks pls....!

i was Shock when i heard that!!

Original poster
threeleftfeet · 30/05/2012 17:04

"Maybe, I'd have thought that was more for surgery though, rather than a prescription for a few pills that the gp could just as easily have prescribed."

Are you saying my friend shouldn't have been in A&E?

She wasn't diagnosed as being allergic to the antibiotics until after they'd run loads of tests.

She was passing out, hallucinating and she felt very ill. Her heart was absolutely racing. (The people in A&E thought she'd taken drugs at first.) She definitely needed to go to A&E!

OP posts:
Original poster
threeleftfeet · 30/05/2012 17:05

Lovelynewboots cross posts, thanks for understanding!

OP posts:
sausagesandmarmelade · 30/05/2012 17:16

Strange...

I went to casualty with a severe allergic reaction last year and was given a free supply of anti-histamines and antibiotics

Floggingmolly · 30/05/2012 17:19

No threeleftfeet. I was just making the point that she was hardly in a position to decline treatment, as it was suggested that she should have been given this choice.

lancaster · 30/05/2012 17:20

I am a doctor in scotland and have never heard of this before, including prior to all prescriptions being made free of charge here.

lancaster · 30/05/2012 17:21

Floggingmolly - she may not have been fit to leave but should still ethically have been given the choice.

Princesslovelyboo · 30/05/2012 17:24

We got a bill for a prescription for my ds, I called then and told then he was only 11, they said sorry and I never heard from them again, I suspect if your friend calls and explains that she is exempt she will not have to pay.

shushpenfold · 30/05/2012 17:26

YABU - unless you're an inpatient, you pay.

takingiteasy · 30/05/2012 17:28

I don't think you ABU to be shocked. I might be wrong but even before our perscriptions we free for all (in Scotland) I don't think you paid for anything given in hospital, even when getting it from the hospital pharmacy.

I've been billed by the NHS once, much to my embarrasment. I went to get new glasses not long after having my first son, 6 years ago. When it came to paying she asked if I was on any benefits. I'd just started claiming tax credits for the first time and told her this. She ticked some boxes, got me to sign and I got my specs for free. I was well chuffed. Until the bill arrived! I didn't realise there was a difference between working/child etc and different limits. Lesson learnt!

lisaro · 30/05/2012 17:31

I've been charged in the past. It must have been over seven years ago as that's how long I've had exemption for medical reasons.

slightlypissedoff · 30/05/2012 17:38

Its been like that here for a while. It should be tbh, if you have an exemption certificate you just call them. Its simple.

Dawndonna · 30/05/2012 17:40

It's been standard practice for a number of years.

Moln · 30/05/2012 17:49

Maybe she could arrange an instalment arrangment over 12 months to pay it off?

foxinsocks · 30/05/2012 18:16

last time I went to hospital, I couldn't even get a long prescription from them (not that I go often but the one time I went). And when I mean long, I mean longer than like 2 days.

They said I had to go to the GP to get more. I said it was really unlikely I could get an appointment so quickly and couldn't they phone the doctor for me which they refused to do. So I ran out of important medicine lol and nearly ended up back in A and E as my doctor wouldn't do prescriptions over the phone and of course, I couldn't get an appointment.

The whole reason for this was cost cutting. Apparently so many people don't pay for outpatient medicine in A and E that they don't like prescribing much. I even volunteered to pay for a longer prescription but they said they had a procedure that said they could only write a script for a day or so because of it!

this was a while ago so maybe it has changed!

Original poster
threeleftfeet · 30/05/2012 18:22

Grin Moln

OP posts:
Noqontrol · 30/05/2012 18:27

I've never heard of that before. In principle it's obviously fine, but I would think they should have told you at the time what to expect. And if you have an exemption certificate wouldn't it still be valid in this case?

NUFC69 · 30/05/2012 18:28

I have had two operations in the last eighteen months and have gone home with medicines and dressings from hospital and have not been asked to pay. I wonder if it depends on the Trust, ie some do and some don't charge?

With regard to Road Traffic Accidents it always was the case that you had to pay for your treatment - you are expected to pay and claim it back on your insurance. When my daughter was three she fell off her bike on the pavement outside her house and we took her to A and E to be checked over. A few weeks later we received a bill for her treatment - I just wrote and said that I thought a three year old falling off her bike on the pavement was hardly a RTA and I never heard from the hospital again.

Original poster
threeleftfeet · 30/05/2012 18:40

"And if you have an exemption certificate wouldn't it still be valid in this case?"

Yes my friend does not expect to have to pay the charge. It's the principle, the way it was handled and the chipping away of the NHS being free at the point of delivery that's concerning us both there.

OP posts:
Buckingfiatch · 30/05/2012 18:52

Less than a year ago I was sent home from hospital with antibiotics and pain killers. I asked to pay for, nor did I receive a bill.

I have never heard of this. But upon thinking about it, I agree with it. Not in the way it was handled in the OP, but definitely should charge for any medication being sent home unless exempt of course. But they need to make it widely known that this will happen so there are no surprises.

Lougle · 30/05/2012 18:56

My local A&E has big signs up stating it.

Moln · 30/05/2012 19:11

OK so my payment plan flippance aside it could very well be a sign that payments are creeping into the NHS.

Soon it could well be like where I am now (ex-pat), still pay though your taxes and also pay for the medical attention and medicines (out patient medicine that is there's a daily fee for in patient - I try to get them to give me as many drugs as possible why I'm in hospital )

SardineQueen · 30/05/2012 19:19

How strange, never heard of this before

In the last 5 years I have had 2 csections and 1 minor OP. I have not been charged for the premeds that I had to take at home (antacid) or the drugs in hospital (anaesethetic, morphine etc). With the sections I was also given drugs to take home (painkillers and anti-inflammatories) and was not charged for those either.

Also had to take DD to A&E the other week and she was in all day and had a nebulisor and an inhaler and we took the inhaler home with us with a tube thing too, also not charged for.

I am very surprised TBH.

SardineQueen · 30/05/2012 19:20

The thing that is true here is that things that they gave you a decade ago (pads after birth / gynaecological procedures, nappies for newborns etc) you are now instructed to bring in with you.

Original poster
threeleftfeet · 30/05/2012 19:20

"it could very well be a sign that payments are creeping into the NHS. "

Yes, that's what we think too Sad

OP posts: