AIBU to be enraged about a £100 HRT fine?

[OnlyOneAdda]

Been on HRT for about 18 months ago, so have purchased HRT pre payment certificate. Each time I collect my prescriptions, I am asked to show my certificate as proof of payment.

I have just received a letter from NHS saying according to their records I have falsely claimed for a prescription and I will be fined £100. Have called them and provided my certificate number...turns out that one of the new medications my GP added six months ago isn't covered and I should have paid. The letter explicitly states that being mislead by the pharmacy is not a valid exclude.

WTAF? The pharmacy accepted it as payment. If this item wasn't eligible then they shouldn't have. If I go into a shop that doesn't accept AmEx they tell my at point of payment - they don't send me a £100 fine six months later and tell me I should have known better and used a different card.

If I've pre-paid my HRT then it should cover all fucking HRT. And if an item isn't payable by the means provided at the till then this should be flagged at point of sale!!!

Absolutely fuming 🤬 (and of course like most AIBU posts I actually just want you to agree with me 🤣 so if you think IABU then please scroll on and leave me to my menopausal rage...)

And don't get me started on the fact that men don't have to pay full stop for HRT, sanitary products etc. 🙄

Yes the normal prepaid certificate covers all HRT. I use one because I have two other regular meds plus two HRT ones and it’s useful for any other one-off things I am prescribed.

YADNBU. That is not ok.

You went for the cheap option and got caught, next time do what everyone else does and pay for the normal prepayment, it is all over the website that you’ll be fined if you try and get normal medication on it.

Why would you consider anything your doctor prescribes for HRT not HRT?

What does "prescribes for HRT" mean?

It is prescribed to relieve some symptoms. And because that prescription is not licenced for that use, it cannot be considered to be part of HRT.

You do need to check what the cert covers, but also the GP should explain this to you. They should definitely tell you if they are prescribing off licence because you might not want them to. (Also, a GP should not be doing it, only a specialist).

I meant if your doctor is prescribing something under the umbrella of HRT (for whatever symptom/reason), you expect it to be HRT.
I for one had no clue my certificate might not cover my medication. Wouldn’t occur to be to check unless the doctor said or the pharmacy told me it wasn’t valid for that.

True, but if I used a weekend pass to touch in on a Monday with TfL, they would just charge my card with the weekday far. Or the barrier would refuse to open. I wouldn't pay a fine, unless I suppose if I walked into an ungated station and just got on a train, assuming I was fine.

I've just been in to see the pharmacist as I did exactly the same thing as you. He said to take the letter in to him when I get it and he will sort it out for me. So go to see the pharmacist and see what they say.

In both our cases it was a genuine oversight. I just find it unbelievable that we are expected to tell a trained pharmacist whether we are expected to pay for a medication or not!

On another note, to all those questioning why testosterone isn't licenced- well, it's pure misogyny. Nobody can be arsed to do a proper study, or rather nobody can be arsed to fund one. Old women don't really matter don't you know.

I went to the pharmacy today, and they were very sympathetic - apologetic in fact!

It's not resolved yet as she needed to speak to manager / head office (it's a Central Ldn Boots) but feeling cautiously optimistic.

So firstly I remembered I had something in writing saying it would be covered which I am hoping will help...

I see a private GP via work for my menopause who then sends a referral letter to my NHS GP to prescribe (has been this way all the way through, new letter for each change).

When my prescription was updated to include tostran, my private GP referral letter said "I would be grateful if you could dispense her repeat prescriptions through the NHS exemption certificate for HRT". So first fail is here, private GP should have flagged that this is not licensed and therefore not covered.

NHS GP then provided me with the prescriptions for these medications - second fail, she should have also highlighted that it was not licensed.

However, as I expected, the pharmacists (I spoke to two of them on duty this morning) both WERE aware it is not included and said they should have - and would usually have - flagged this and asked for payment.

It's difficult to know exactly what happened 3 months hence but they think that somebody more junior and inexperienced must have dispensed; and they also think that because I had previously had a full PPC the prior year (I was on some other medications that made it worthwhile but they've now been stopped) it looks like the wrong box was ticked by them / it was not updated.

They were very apologetic and were hopeful of resolving. I've agreed to pop back in later in the week when I'm next in the office and also bring the letter with me as I forgot to pick it up this morning (oh the irony of the menopause brain 🤦‍♂️)

Will keep you all posted. Thanks for the responses and (in the main) support!

Yes, do keep us posted. We are in the same boat I think as I also had the other certificate the year before. My pharmacist said it was 'both our fault'. I wanted to pay retrospectively but he wouldn't let me.

I'm really glad you posted, I would have been oblivious!

It's not easy to pay retrospectively. Before I got a prepayment certificate, there was an occasion when a problem occurred with my prescription. This was in the days when this was unusual, and the pharmacy arranged a one-off delivery to my house. When the driver knocked my door, he was stunned that I needed to pay for it, and had no idea how to facilitate that. I think he mostly delivered to pensioners.
In the end I had to go back to the pharmacy and it took ages to sort out. I kept that damn receipt for months and months in case someone decided to fine me.

I feel for you OP. I had a similar situation at the dentist where I was asked if I wanted a quick clean, I said yes, thinking this was part of the check up and got charged. I am on low income and had a tax exemption card so filled out the form only to have a fine come through as it was out of date. Turns out I earned a couple of hundred over the limit that year and didn't apply for the exemption card which had just run out. Was unable to buy food for a week all because the dentist didn't make it clear up front this was a paid for extra rather than part of the check up. I've not been back since and that was 2 years ago.

It should be made mandatory to be clear if there is a charge.

What a lot of hassle trying to resolve @OnlyOneAdda for a med that should be under the certificate anyway.

Hey - do you think this is both the oral and pessary then?

I took it to mean just the oral ones.

However I’m still not sure as mine are 200 not 100!

Yes this is the thing isn't it? Assuming I am successful in getting it resolved, I am expecting a great deal of time to be spent dealing with it. On top of a full time job, domestic load inc two teens, we're having our bathroom renovated at the moment which is joyous and of course the menopause symptoms themselves!! 🙄

Maybe the end user gets the blame everytime because there are so many layers involved and everyone in the chain has a responsibility to do their job properly but sometimes the wheels come off. Rather than NHSBSA doing their homework and finding out where the error occurred (time-consuming) they send a threatening letter and a fine to the person who is named on the prescription - it's the easiest way to recoup the missing cash - doesn't matter whose error it was. Been there, done that x

It really won’t be difficult to resolve, the pharmacy can send an email and poof all sorted. It really doesn’t need to be a drama.

@MessageMystery been in to the pharmacy twice so far, and explained that they should be able to resolve, and others in the situation (on this thread) have had it resolved by their pharmacy.

Both times they have not known what to do / said they'll have to take it to a manager and get back to me.

So no super simple poof.

Sorry the level of drama is offending you 🙄

This kind of thing properly marks me and I think you should fight, don't back down op, keep going and speak to the Chemist and don't let this rest.

Then you tell them what they need to do? They need to email the NHSBSA and tell them the error was on their part not yours and it’ll be sorted.

If the pharmacy you are using is so inept that they don’t know what to do in the situation I would also suggest changing the pharmacy you use.

@MessageMystery FFS I have asked they do just that.

It's a Boots in Central London, and I've spoken to three different pharmacists there - none of whom have encountered this issue before. They have actually been sympathetic and helpful, I won't be striding in and telling them they're inept thanks. And I don't see what good changing my pharmacy after the fact going to do?

Delighted for you that life is such a breeze and your service providers are free of ineptitude. If this exchange is typical however then I suspect everyone you encounter finds you as annoying as the NHSBSA process, and a sanctimonious cow to boot.

Maybe the chemists haven't been informed or they don't get time to read emails - ours don't answer the phone so you have to go in person to ask a question. Maybe also the first time a chemist hears about it is when a customer tells them they've been fined £100 and they know nothing about it. How to make money without telling anyone x

@OnlyOneAdda have you actually phoned the number on your letter? As I mentioned upthread I did this after a similar fine was issued and the fine was discarded on the spot.

More to the point why are some HRT meds not covered by it‽ What an absolute scam.

Yes that was the first thing I did - agreed that often speaking to a human is much more productive! Unfortunately got a very unhelpful & rude "computer says no" operative.

I do wonder if it's worth ringing again...or even several times again. I might get somebody more helpful on another call.