Changes made to FP10 prescriptions and tokens

The reverse of all FP10 prescriptions and tokens have now been changed with an aim to help patients and pharmacy teams to easily determine the eligibility for exemption from prescription charges.

This is part of the recent introduction of new NHS prescription forms and EPS Tokens in England.

The new FP10 forms (FP10SS, FP10D, FP10PN, etc.) and tokens (FP10DT) are now in circulation and pharmacy teams are expected to see these being presented by patients in the coming weeks.

Key changes include:

• Addition of new exemption box ‘U’ for patients who are in receipt of “Universal Credit and meets the criteria”
• Removal of box ‘X’ for “was prescribed free-of-charge contraceptives”
• Introduction of a new prescriber endorsement ‘FS’ for “free supply of sexual health treatment”
• Merging of age exemption categories (‘A’ and ‘C’) into a single category ‘A’ for “is 60 years of age or over or is under 16 years of age”
• Re-wording of exemption category ‘G’ to “Prescription exemption certificate issued by the Ministry of Defence”

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) reminded that pharmacists can accept both existing and new versions of FP10 forms and tokens for dispensing as the existing version will remain in circulation until their stocks are exhausted.

PSNC Drug Tariff and Reimbursement Manager, Suraj Shah, said: “Pharmacy teams regularly help patients to identify whether they are eligible for free NHS prescriptions, but this can be a time-consuming process in a busy environment. PSNC hopes that these changes – particularly the long-awaited addition of a specific exemption box for Universal Credit claimants – will help make claiming exemptions more straightforward, consequently reducing the risk of penalty charges and prescription switching.”

“Removing the requirement for patients to sign the reverse of their prescription/Token for contraceptives will also reduce the administrative burden on pharmacies, who will no longer need to submit these EPS Tokens to the NHS Business Services Authority. However, we are keen to see these changes being applied to EPS prescribing and dispensing systems as soon as possible to bring them into line with the new paper forms and Tokens,” he said.

Pharmacists are also advised to review and update their SOPs to ensure accurate completion of patient declarations on the new version of the FP10 forms and tokens.