Medical Exemption after Total Thyroidectomy due... - Thyroid UK

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Medical Exemption after Total Thyroidectomy due to cancer

ydrol profile image
23 Replies

Hi,

New here.

Just wondering which option to tick on FP92A form after a TT to remove small malignant tumour for levothyroxine prescriptions going forward:

Myxoedema (that is Hypothyroidism requiring thyroid hormone replacement)

OR

Cancer - the effects of current cancer treatment.

?

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ydrol profile image
ydrol
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23 Replies
Lora7again profile image
Lora7again

Both

ydrol profile image
ydrol in reply toLora7again

Thanks for the quick reply - a bit confusing as it also says tick one box - I'll check with surgery too :)

Lora7again profile image
Lora7again in reply toydrol

I would put a little note explaining why you have ticked 2. I actually used to have a medical exemption card at the beginning of my illness.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator

My way of looking at it this is, if you need levothyroxine, that comes under Myxoedema.

That this need might have been caused by cancer treatment might also be true and valid. But I suspect that someone, somewhere down the line, is more likely to question years and years of you claiming the effects of cancer treatment than myxoedema.

Or move from England to Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. :-)

Lora7again profile image
Lora7again in reply tohelvella

I don't have to pay for my prescriptions now I am 60 and I am not on any on any long term medication at the moment.

loueldhen profile image
loueldhen

Your long term condition is myxoedema. I’d go for that.

NWA6 profile image
NWA6

Myxoedema

ydrol profile image
ydrol

Thanks all, based on reasoning and consensus here, I'm inclined to go with Myxoedema too :) I'll await confirmation from the surgery in the meantime - hopefully wont be long ... tum de tum ...

Fluffysheep profile image
Fluffysheep

I'd go for whatever is simplest!! I'm entitled due to having a permanent fistula, however it isn't one of the ones listed and is a fairly rare surgery, and I wasn't at this GP surgery when I had it done. When it came to renewing it, as I've had it 5 years, I ticked the myxoedema one as I didn't want to have the bother of explaining the permanent fistula to the GP!!

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca

My pharmacist filled mine out just ticking myxodema, which was fine and dandy as you know thyroid patients then do not have to pay for levothyroxine. (I pay for mine from abroad as brand unavailable under NHS)

However i continued to pay for other prescriptions, until my Macmillan nurse told me as a cancer patient i don't have to pay, so she filled form out for me and sent off.

As a consequence of pharmacist ticking just myxodema i paid out £££ on various things when i was covered (was unable to get refund as pharmacist did not accept responsibility) anyway tick cancer. X

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca in reply toSweeneythyca

If you have no thyroid from cancer (like me) then cancer is the reason to not pay for your prescriptions. Its reviewed every 5 yrs i believe.

(I did read your post, just answered it to lay person)

X

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSweeneythyca

It is actually far, far worse than losing out financially (bad though that may be).

The exemption is on the basis of having been issued an exemption certificate - and it still being valid.

A pharmacist ticking the box does not make you suddenly exempt. You should still have paid until you get an exemption certificate. (If needed, you can request a special receipt and claim a refund when you get your exemption certificate.) People have been fined for claiming exemption but not being in possession of a current exemption certificate - even when they are absolutely eligible for one.

Once you get an exemption certificate, it covers everything, not just thyroid-related medicines.

One of many press stories:

bbc.co.uk/news/health-31537381

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca in reply tohelvella

Yes i am going back to jan last year but she did tell me to keep receipts and when i got my card she would refund.. which she did. Yet a year later i was told by Macmillan that as a cancer patient i shouldn't be paying for any meds (as just levo was exempt, as myxodema ticked) i have other conditions that i was still paying for. Being a thyroid patient doesn't give exemption for all meds unrelated to thyroid. (At least that is what i have been told, read and experienced)

X

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSweeneythyca

Being exempt exempts you from ALL prescription charges. Regardless what the medicine is prescribed for.

The tick box, although it is necessary to tick one, is actually irrelevant. You are actually saying;

"I have a current, valid exemption certificate which was issued for <reason>" But the actual <reason> has no impact at all on what medicines you are exempt from paying for.

We see people being prescribed lots of different medicines for hypothyroidism (myxoedema) including pain relief, anti-depressants, iron supplements, and many others. It would often be impossible to separate out which ones were prescribed for hypothyroidism and which were not.

The proper refund mechanism is this:

If you need to pay prescription charges before your medical exemption certificate arrives, you can get a refund as long as:

you ask for an FP57 refund receipt when you pay (you can’t get one later)

the start date of your medical exemption certificate is the same or earlier than the date you pay for your prescription (certificates are backdated one month from the date that we receive your application - they can’t be backdated any further)

You must claim your refund within three months of paying.

The FP57 refund receipt tells you what to do.

nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-cer...

That pharmacist could have seen you being heavily fined.

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca in reply tohelvella

Sorry think you misunderstood me....

I wasn't liable to a fine. (I was only given exemption when i received my card)

The pharmacist only gave me levothyroxine without charge(with card),

yet charged me for meds for hypoparathyroidism for 6 months i continued to pay for those meds, she told me the card only exempted me for thyroid meds, and Macmillan told me the same weirdly, i got a new exemption card and assumed it gave more entitlement.

I no longer use that pharmacy as get prescriptions delivered, as i moved house but will go there asap and challenge them to refund me as was easily over £100 worth of meds i paid for.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSweeneythyca

You only got the levothyroxine because the pharmacist ticked a box which says that you actually have a valid exemption certificate.

You did not, so far as I can see, have a physical exemption certificate even though you were entitled to one.

Therefore, it would be deemed that you were claiming to be exempt when you did not have an exemption certificate. Which could have resulted in a fine.

If the pharmacist knew, or thought they knew, you were exempt on the basis of hypothyroidism, they should know that applies to all medicines. Charging for some and not others shows utter ignorance and an attitude of "couldn't care a damn" towards patients. It is deplorable.

The pharmacist should be reported.

Hypoparathyroidism is another basis for having a medical exemption certificate issued. In its own right.

Have a look at this link:

nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-cer...

Read that very thoroughly.

(Apologies if I sound at all angry. I am angry that you have been treated like this. It is so very wrong.)

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca in reply tohelvella

Let me explain again...

I did have a physical exemption card..... originally pharmacist filled it out for me (following that i paid for scripts till card came) then she refunded me cost of levothyroxine i had paid for till card came.... but she still continued to charge me for other meds.

Then Macmillan nurse filled out another form, and i got another card which i believed then exempted me for other meds, pharmacist sneakily didn't admit to her mistake.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSweeneythyca

Right - then the pharmacist should be fined for wrongly charging an exempt patient!

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca in reply tohelvella

Absolutely... thanks for replies. Sorry for not being clearer. X

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSweeneythyca

No problem. :-)

We got there in the end.

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca in reply tohelvella

Just had another read and think i will challenge pharmacist again, confused.com lol

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply toSweeneythyca

Christ! That was a rollercoaster back and forth between you both! Lol

Not that it needs repeating but I just can’t help myself!!

Wtf was the pharmacist thinking? ALL PRESCRIPTIONS are FREE when we have an exemption card 😬

You’ve been wrongly charged 😬

Sweeneythyca profile image
Sweeneythyca in reply toNWA6

Hahahaha yes it was. X

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