Prescription Prepayment Certificates (England)

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I noticed on the Asthma Q&A a few people asking about a campaign for free prescriptions for those with chronic asthma/chest conditions.

I wanted to make sure that people knew about and understood the prescription prepayment certificate scheme.

This is only relevant if you live in England. If you live in Scotland, Wales or NI your prescriptions are all free.

In England prescriptions are free in these circumstances:

If you are resident iIf you're under 16 or over 60

If in full time education and 16-18 years old

If you're pregnant or have had a baby in the last 12 months

If you or your partner receive Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Income-related Employment & Support Allowance, or Pension Credit Guarantee Credit

If you have a war pension exemption certificate

If you have a valid Medical Exemption Certificate (given for a range of illnesses, e.g., epilepsy, cancer, severe disability)

Prescription prepayment certificate scheme

Details here on how to apply etc

The charge for one prescription item is £7.40.

A 3 month certificate is £29.10 and a 12 month one £104.00.

The 12 months one can be paid for by direct debit which is taken in 10/12 months of the year.

The charge for a single prescription item is £7.40, whereas a three month PPC will cost you £29.10 and a 12 month PPC £104.00.

Key things which I don't think are sufficiently highlighted about this scheme:

If during the first month of a 3-month PPC or before the start of the
last month of a 12-month PPC you become entitled to free prescriptions then you can get a refund.

If you're on the threshold of possibly a certificate being worthwhile if you suddenly need more items then you can apply and backdate the certificate - but you need an offical receipt from the pharmacy called a Form FP57 - and you have to get that at the time you get the prescription.

I know this sounds complicated so I will give you an example based on me when I had a 2 things wrong with me plus regular meds etc.

I have 1 regular prescription per month - so not worth getting a prepayment thing. If I get anything else prescribed eg antibiotics I ask for a FP57. A few months ago I had to get antibiotics plus 2 lots of ear drops plus a cream for something else - so each time I got one of these FP57s then having totalled it up I purchased a 3 month certificate had it backdated to the date of the earliest item for which I had an FP57 and then got refunded for all the prescriptions - limiting my total expenditure for a 3 month block to £29.10.

So if you regularly have more than 4 items in 3 months you'll be better off with a certificate. If you might end up with more than 4 items in 3 months then make sure you ask for the FP57 when you had your prescription in.

Anyone with any questions please ask - I'd hate to think of people in England paying more for their prescriptions than they need to.

It is a good scheme and I do use it, but I think the point on the asthma thread was that people with certain illnesses were exempt from any charges, and some of us felt that people with certain types of lung disease should also be because of the treatment being life-saving.

However I am glad of the PPC, as without it my prescription charges would be through the roof (have about 8 items a month) Thanks for highlighting this - it is good for people to know.

Great post!

Dh has one of these, he's had a transplant and is on loads of drugs so it saves him a fortune!

I

MadHair - I totally agree that those with asthma and certain other illnesses should have free prescriptions - in fact it is totally ridiculous now that it is only England where anyone has to pay.

I just wanted to highlight to people about these in case they didn't know.

Especially if you suddenly need lots of extra items on top of your new ones.

Thanks for this, especially the link :)

I've only recently found out about this scheme & have at times been juggling what medications I actually can get away without as its just gets so bl@@dy expensive, I often have 4 or 5 things to pick up - not helped by forever being prescribed stuff that I react badly too & then needs changing to something else - oh for a refund system in that scenario

& yes madhair I'm another here with chronic conditions NOT on the freeby list, but need regular medication - I can understand why the exempt illness ARE on the free list, but like you just don't get why others aren't

Also did anyone see the recent article in the Daily Laim, as regards a GPs son being prescribed 4 items at another surgery - very interesting

The Dad was annoyed that out of 4 items, 2 could be bought cheaper over the counter, & the other 2 could of being given on a "private prescription" & therefore would have been cheaper than the NHS £7.40 - the way it was written it suggested it was a way the surgeries make money

I think there is a misconception that someone sat down and logically decided what should be free and what shouldn't, based on fairness. If people with asthma were routinely not taking medication or using out of date medication because of the costs, and the cost of that (not just financially but risk to life as well) outweighed the cost of prescriptions, then it probably would be added to the list. I don't think it is anywhere near the top of the queue in deserving terms though, so if it was added in isolation there would be more cries of unfairness.

The conditions on the list have usually found their way there through problems on non-compliance. Quite often the treatment doesn't have obvious immediate effects and people might scrimp and take less without realising the harm they are doing or the drugs have a short shelf life and need replaced regularly. AFAIK, cancer is the most recent addition because it is important to keep on top of everything else whilst having chemotherapy and to make it easier for the hospital to dispense prescriptions to the patients they are treating on an outpatient basis. Hospitals (where prescriptions are free to inpatients) are encouraged to send a letter to the GP so they write outpatient prescriptions, I'd be willing to bet that they were not being filled as often as consultants liked and adding to their workload and making the patient worse (not considering the stress of making and attending another appointment just to jump through a hoop). The "freeness" label allows them just to pick them up from the hospital pharmacy.

I don't think this is right, I wish it was more fair and personally have conditions that don't count even though I need a supply of syringes and fridge based medicines with a short shelf life. Just trying to explain how I think it has come about (some of the people I work with are health economists).