NHS Help with Health Costs

Pharmacy NHS Hormone Replacement Therapy Prescription Prepayment Certificate (HRT PPC) process

Before selling an HRT PPC

Remind patients to check if they’re entitled to free NHS prescriptions. They can do this at www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/check
Make sure their HRT medicine is covered by the certificate. You can find a list of HRT medicines covered on our webpage Medicines covered by the HRT PPC.
Make sure they pay for their prescriptions. If not, they do not need an HRT PPC.
Establish if a standard 3 or 12 month PPC might be more suitable. A standard PPC might be more suitable if the patient:
- has a prescribed item not covered by an HRT PPC
- may not be prescribed more than 2 listed HRT medicines in 12 months
- expects to be prescribed other medicines as well as HRT

If established that they may benefit, tell the patient that buying an HRT PPC may save them money:

An HRT PPC will cost the same as 2 standard-priced NHS prescription items and covers an unlimited amount of listed HRT medicine for 12 months.
If the patient does not want to buy an HRT PPC today, charge them as usual. Issue them an FP57 if they are unsure.

This can be between one month before and one month after the date of their application.

They do not need to give you this but if they do they will receive their HRT PPC by email immediately.

Process all HRT PPCs sold in the pharmacy within one month.
When using HRT PPC exemption patient can only claim for HRT items. A separate prescription must be used for other items.
As long as the HRT PPC covers the date of dispensing, the patient can collect their listed NHS HRT prescriptions for free.
They should mark box ‘W’ on the prescription form and sign the declaration.

For more information, pharmacy teams can: