A million fines were sent to people suspected of wrongly claiming free NHS prescriptions under a crackdown on a fraud that costs taxpayers up to £240 million a year.
The NHS clawed back £23 million in penalties and unpaid prescription charges last year, almost ten times as much as two years earlier.
Many patients falsely claim that they are entitled to free medicines to avoid the £8.60 charge for each item. They are only required to tick a box to receive the drugs free with no checks made at the chemist’s counter.
Community pharmacists in England dispensed 1.1 billion prescriptions costing £9.2 billion last year, The Mail on Sunday reported. Almost nine out of ten were handed out free, mainly for children and those aged over 60 but also to people on low income.
Philip Dunne, the health minister, said: “Claiming a free prescription when you are not entitled to it puts pressure on NHS services and takes money away from where it is needed more.” The increased checks by the NHS had resulted in the amount recovered rising from £2.5 million to £23 million in two years.
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“But there is far more to be done and we expect the amount the NHS recovers to keep increasing,” Mr Dunne said. “Those who are entitled to free prescriptions will not be affected and will continue to get them as normal.”
The Department of Health’s annual report says that 1.6 million penalty charge notices were issued between September 2014 and March this year, including a million in the year to March. Another 700,000 fines have been issued since September 2014 to people suspected of making false claims for free NHS dental treatment.
Penalties are up to a maximum of £100 with a 50 per cent surcharge if the fine is not paid within a specified time. Persistent offenders can be prosecuted.
Carol Ann Joyce, 63, of north Wales, was jailed for six months in 2014 after travelling to different GP surgeries to obtain prescriptions of a painkiller to which she had become addicted. She claimed that she was living in temporary accommodation or a refuge.
A man was prosecuted after he spent 12 years registering himself and his wife with GPs around the country to get prescriptions for a painkiller. He would claim that they were on holiday and give a false address in a fraud that was said to have cost the NHS £31,520.