Released prisoners exempt from charges
John Stillwell/PA
Released prisoners qualify for charge exemption on low income grounds |
In the first phase of a national roll-out, all FP10 and FP10MDA prescriptions
issued byselected prisons from 1 April 2008 will be exempt from prescription
charges in England, providing certain conditions are met.
This follows changes to the NHS charges Regulations, guidance
on which was published last week by the Department of Health.
To qualify for exemption from charges, prescriptions must be stamped
with the letters “HMP” along with the issuing prison’s
name, address and telephone switchboard number printed in the practice
address box (the addition of handwritten “HMP” is not acceptable).
Patients are not required to sign the prescription to claim entitlement
to exemption, although good practice guidance, such as that relating
to Schedule 2 or 3 Controlled Drugs, still applies.
The prescriptions do not need to be separately bundled and should be
submitted to the Prescription Pricing Division in the
no-charge group.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee said this week that
it would monitor how these prescriptions are handled by the PPD. It also
said that guidance
issued to prisons should ensure that, in most cases,
pharmacies would be contacted in advance of a patient presenting a prison
prescri tion.
Pharmacists can confirm the legitimacy of prescriptions (including the
identity of the released prisoner) and the prescriber by contacting the
healthcare manager at the prison stated on the form.
The PSNC plans to
list contact details on its website for the six prisons involved as
initial pathfinder sites. The DoH expects the programme to be extended
to other
prisons in England within a year. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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