§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set out for the years(a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04 how the £1.4 billion announced in the NHS plan for services for older people will be allocated; how much will be available through (i) NHS bodies and (ii) personal social services; and of the sums allocated through social services how much is made up of specific grants and how much is SSA. [150030]
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§ Ms StuartNo pharmacy contractors have been denied reimbursement because they have submitted prescription forms which have been incorrectly completed by patients claiming exemption from charges.
Pharmacists are required to collect a charge in respect of each chargeable item supplied unless a declaration of entitlement to exemption or remission is completed on the prescription form by or on behalf of the patient. This has been a requirement since 1968.
Pharmacists are also required to sort forms into "exempt" and "non-exempt" groups before submitting them to the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA) for payment. When a form is submitted as exempt from charges but without a completed declaration, it will be treated as non-exempt. Forms submitted as exempt but showing a charge are also treated as non-exempt. Forms submitted as non-exempt are treated as exempt if they bear a completed declaration. In each case these forms are processed according to the declaration, as required by law, rather than according to the group in which the pharmacist has submitted them.
A temporary concession has been introduced for prescriptions dispensed from June 2000 onwards to encourage pharmacists and their staff to improve the completion rate. Under the concession, no adjustment is made in respect of forms for patients aged less than 16 or 60 or over on which the patient's age has been printed by the prescriber, even if the declaration required by law has not been completed. In conjunction with this, information is now routinely provided to pharmacists by the PPA about the number of forms which have been submitted as exempt but treated as non-exempt; which would have been treated as non-exempt but for the concession; or have been treated as exempt when submitted as non-exempt.
Information about forms submitted as exempt without a completed declaration of exemption prior to June 2000 is not available. Information about exempt and non-exempt forms since then is in the table.
§ Mr. Hutton[holdiag answer 12 February 2001]: As stated at paragraph 15.2 of the NHS plan, from 2004 we are making available annually an additional £1.4 billion for new investment in health and social services for older people. The disposition of the funding for services to elderly people, including intermediate care and related services, within the national health service and: the personal social services has been set out in two circulars, copies of which are available in the Library. They are:
Health Service Circular (2001) 01/Local Authority Circular (2001) 01; andLocal Authority Social Services Letter (2000) 13;together with a reply from my noble Friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to Lord Lipsey on 12 October 2000, Official Report, House of Lords, column WA51.