NHS Business Services Authority

NHS Business Services Authority

Abbreviation	NHSBSA
Formation	1 October 2005
Type	NHS special health authority
Headquarters	Stella House, Newcastle upon Tyne
Region served	England and Wales
Key people	Silla Maizey (Chair)
Main organ	Board of directors
Parent organisation	National Health Service
Website	www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health which provides some support services to the National Health Service in England and Wales. It was created on 1 October 2005 following a review by the Department of Health of its "arm's length bodies". It began operating on 1 April 2006, bringing together five previously separate NHS business support organisations. It provides a range of services to NHS organisations, NHS contractors and patients which include:

The NHSBSA took over responsibility for checking prescriptions that had been dispensed free of charge to patients who claimed to be exempt from paying prescription charges in September 2014. To claim free prescriptions on medical grounds, patients are required to hold a valid medical exemption certificate, even if they have a life-long medical condition.

Between September and December 2014, 18,074 penalty charge notices were issued to patients who had declared they were exempt from paying the prescription charge by ticking the back of the prescription to say they held a valid medical exemption certificate, when in fact they did not hold one. A campaign against the penalty charge notices was led by Diabetes UK, which argued that the need for the exemption certificates had not been properly communicated to people with diabetes. It said many people had claimed free prescriptions without any problems since they were first diagnosed without having a certificate, until the NHSBSA's new, more efficient checking systems uncovered the problem. Following the campaign the health minister, Dr Dan Poulter, asked the NHSBSA to cancel or refund the charges until patients could obtain a medical exemption certificate.

The NHS Pension Scheme is a defined benefit public service pension scheme. On 1 April 2008, the scheme divided into two sections - the 1995 section and the 2008 section - when a new benefit structure was introduced for new entrants. These two sections of the scheme operate on a pay-as-you-go basis. On 1 April 2015, the amended regulations introduced new provisions as a consequence of the scheme's reform. This 2015 Scheme operates on a career average basis.