The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2000

Supply of drugs and appliances by chemists

3.—(1) A chemist who provides pharmaceutical services to a patient shall, subject to paragraph (3), make and recover from that patient–

(a) in respect of an item of elastic hosiery a charge of £6.00, that is to say a charge of £12.00, per pair;

(b) in respect of the supply of each other appliance and of each quantity of a drug, a charge of £6.00.

(2) Where a charge is paid under paragraph (1), the person making the payment shall on doing so sign a declaration in writing on the prescription form that the relevant charge has been paid.

(3) No charge shall be made and recovered under paragraph (1) where–

(a) there is exemption under regulation 7 and a declaration of entitlement to exemption on the prescription form is duly completed by or on behalf of the patient;

(b) there is entitlement to remission of the charge under regulation 3 of the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges Regulations and a declaration of entitlement to remission on the prescription form is duly completed by or on behalf of the patient;

(c) the patient is resident in a school or institution the name of which is inserted on the prescription form by a doctor under his terms of service or in connection with a pilot scheme.

(4) For the purposes of this regulation, where a drug ordered on a single prescription form is supplied by instalments, the charge of £6.00 payable for that drug shall be payable upon the supply of the first instalment.

(5) A chemist, notwithstanding the provisions of his terms of service, shall be under no obligation to provide pharmaceutical services in respect of an order on a prescription form unless he is first paid by the patient any charge required to be made and recovered by paragraph (1) in respect of that order.

(6) A chemist who makes and recovers a charge under paragraph (1) shall, if so required by the patient, give him a receipt for the amount received on the form provided for the purpose which form shall contain forms of declaration in support of an application for repayment and information as to whom an application for repayment shall be made.

(7) Any sum which would otherwise be payable by a Health Authority to a chemist in respect of the provision by him of pharmaceutical services shall be reduced by the amount of any charges which are required to be made and recovered by the preceding provisions of this regulation.