The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7340 p287
12 March 2005

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PCTs to issue penalty notices

Primary care trusts in England are to take responsibility for checking up on fraudulent prescription charge exemption claims and issuing penalty notices from 1 April (PDF 130K). They will be allowed to retain the income generated.

The NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service says that about 25 per cent of penalty charge notices issued result in payment of the original charge and the penalty (five times the prescription charge) within a short period. This rises to 35 per cent over time. It calculates that every 100 penalty charge notices issued results in the recovery of £2,240, of which £440 must be credited to the PCT drug budget. The remainder can be spent by PCTs as they wish.