NHSBSA Dental PCN - Dental Practice Admits mistake, but PCN stands! - ** RESOLVED **

[TheV5]

Good morning,

 

I'm looking for some advice regarding a PCN my wife has received from NHSBSA.

 

My wife recently went to the dentist for a couple of issues.  Upon arrival, she was asked to fill in the form which asked if she was exempt from NHS charges etc. 

 

A couple of years ago she was, but now isn’t and filled in the form accordingly. 

 

After her treatment, she was asked to make another appointment in a couple of weeks for a follow up treatment. 

 

My wife went to make the appointment and pay, but was told that she didn’t need to pay anything now. 

 

She did query this.  The receptionist confirmed that she did not need to pay.  My wife assumed they would charge her for the full treatment upon completion. 

 

A week or so later, she received a letter from NHSBSA asking why she thought she was exempt from payment. 

 

My wife replied and stated she was not and filled in the form accordingly etc. 

 

A week later, she got a PCN for £100 plus the cost of the treatment (approx. £65). 

 

She popped down to the dental practice to see what was going on. 

 

they had not uploaded her information into their system and still hadn’t done so after 2 or 3 weeks. 

 

My wife paid them the £65 owed and they said they would send NHSBSA (cc’ing my wife) an email stating it was in fact their fault and a system error at their end. 

 

We had to chase the dental practice again for this email to be sent after another week.

 

After a week, another PCN came through with an additional £50 charge and still the original treatment price, bring the PCN up to £215. 

 

My wife was in contact again with NHSBSA and eventually got an email back saying that because she paid for the treatment after getting the PCN, they could not (or would not) reverse the PCN.

 

It would appear that NHSBSA have not read one email from herself or the dentist and it has just gone through an automated process rejecting clarification / challenge etc.

 
Please could somebody advise where she stands on this as it seems unjust that she is being chased for the self-confessed mistake of the dental practice and that neither they or NHSBSA will listen to her.

 

Very many thanks.

 

[dx100uk]

You mean you have a private parking ticket? From whom?

 

Dx

 

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Have you paid for the treatment?

 

If you have then you can ignore NHSBSA, (NHS Business Service Authority) they chased me for a while for a similar thing, the chemist saying I didn't need to pay, when in fact I did.

 

When I received the first letter from NHSBSA the penalty far outweighed the actual cost, so I simply went online and paid them, NHSBSA, the 8 or 9 pounds and ignored their following letters increasing the amount to £150, never heard a thing from them.

 

It has nothing to do with who's to blame or being given incorrect advice, they don't care, simply pay for the treatment and move on.

 

AFAIK there isn't any record of them taking a member of the public to court because they were given duff advice, and the NHS can show no loss in revenue.

 

 

[dx100uk]

Oh yea BB I remember these things, you had one 

 

Not alot they can do 

 

Dx

[Bazooka Boo]

Ha ha, yep I did, I think I had a couple of them??

[TheV5]

Hi there, @dx100uk

No it was a PCN for non payment of dental services. The dental practice did not update her details to the system and admit it was their fault. But NHSBSA say she needs to pay the fine.

 

@Bazooka Boo Yes, she paid the dental practice when she went down to complain to them. They've even emailed NHSBSA and they still say she needs to pay.

Edited July 6, 2022 by dx100uk
unnecessary previous post quote removed

[dx100uk]

Ignore them 

They are powerless 

 

Dx

[dx100uk]

Programmable Search Engine

CSE.GOOGLE.COM

clickme^^

 

none have gone anywhere

 

dx

 

[Bazooka Boo]

You most definitely DO NOT pay them anything.

 

You've paid for the treatment and that's the end of it, you'll get a few more letters, each saying the same thing, that the figure you now have to pay has gone up to £150 or something similar. 

Ignore them, there's absolutely nothing they can do.

 

I'll try and dig mine out and show you if you're not convinced. 

[stu007]

Hi

 

I had the exact same thing happen to myself with my own dental practice, filled the form in correctly that not exempt but dental practice failed to upload relevant details and got the letter demanding payment from NHSBSA.

 

Dental Practice admitted there failure to upload correct document but still got further letters from NHSBSA demanding payment.

 

So made a few formal complaint to Dental Practice with there responses admitting error all sent to NHSBSA and there demand letter stopped.

 

The Error in your case is exactly as mine was the Dental Practice was at fault as they failed to upload the correct information on the NHSBSA Dental System.

 

So you make Formal Complaints to the Dental Practice in writing to sort this matter out as it is them that are at fault and you keep a paper trail of this. It is for the Dental Practice to sort this out with NHSBSA not you.

 

NHSBSA will send more letter demanding payment but as stated by Bazooka Boo not much they can do just ignore them but dig your heels in and don't ask but demand that your Dental Practice sorts this matter out.

 

 

[TheV5]

Many thanks to everyone.

 

I meant to write back earlier.

 

All sorted now. We ignored NHSBSA and told the dental practice it was their problem.  My wife has received a letter from NHSBSA confirming that the case has been dropped.

[honeybee13]

That's great news for you. Thank you for letting us know, I'm sure your thread will help future caggers with the same problem.

 

I'll amend your thread title to reflect the good outcome.

 

HB

[TheV5]

2 minutes ago, honeybee13 said:

That's great news for you. Thank you for letting us know, I'm sure your thread will help future caggers with the same problem.

 

I'll amend your thread title to reflect the good outcome.

 

HB

Very many thanks HB.

[Bazooka Boo]

Excellent well done.