Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what advance warning was given to patients who were previously entitled to free prescriptions before 2002 when the NHS Business Services Authority started checking eligibility for free prescriptions.

Post dispensing checks were first introduced in 1999 and the penalty charge process was managed by the Patient Check Compliance Unit of the then NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Services. From April 2005 responsibility for the collection of penalty charges was devolved to primary care trusts. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), as commissioned by NHS England, assumed the responsibility for the Prescription Exemption Checking Service (PECS) from 17 September 2014.

When taking responsibility for PECS the NHSBSA initiated a communications plan which provided all English pharmacies and general practitioner practices with a supply of posters and booklets entitled ‘Claiming free prescriptions?’. The poster warns patients of the consequences of claiming free prescriptions incorrectly and directs them to the booklet for more information on eligibility, which states that medical exemption certificates are valid for five years. The poster and booklet are also published on the NHSBSA website.