DH tight-lipped over cost of fraud check system
The Department of Health will not confirm whether its proposed system for pharmacists to electronically check prescription exemptions will be paid for by the sector or the NHS
EXCLUSIVE
The DH held information on the estimated cost and where it would be borne, it admitted, but considered this information exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Although it recognised there was a public interest in revealing this information, the DH said, its officials should be able to “candidly discuss policy options” without them being “held up to scrutiny before they have been fully developed”.It used the same reasoning last week when it refused to divulge how much time it estimated pharmacists would spend conducting the checks, what alternatives to the proposals it had considered, or the details of any meetings it held to formulate its policy. At the time, the DH told C+D that it had not conducted an impact assessment or consulted pharmacy bodies before announcing its plans for pharmacists to carry out the fraud checks.
As part of the government’s "major clampdown" on fraud in the health service, the current system of post-prescription checks would be expanded and patients who claimed free prescriptions fraudulently would face a penalty of up to £150, the DH said in December. Persistent offenders could face a court hearing, a £2,500 fine and a criminal record, it added.
Read the DH's full response here.
C+D will be discussing the government's plans and the future of prescription charges at a webinar on March 23. For more information visit http://bit.ly/PharmacistsFraudPolicemen.
What impact would policing prescriptions have on patient care?
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