Can I have the Brand please - I'll pay the difference?

Most pharmacists will have been asked at some time or another by a patient to have the brand instead of the generic - perhaps the patient will say something like "I don't want those cheap medicines - can I have the brand??"
 
There might be some discussion about payment of taxes, or that only the brand will work, or the consultant said I must have the brand etc...
 
The other day, however a patient said to me "Ok then, I'll pay the difference" - but this puts us in a very strange place indeed...I refused, but let's think about it a bit more...

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A first thought might be that it feels morally wrong...as the supply is on the NHS and this smacks of top-ups...

Another thought, however, might be, if you take the money for the difference, and the NHS pays for the generic - the pharmacy is making no profit on the brand bit and the patient gets the brand...so what's the problem?
 
So the question here is - is it legal anyway to take the money from the patient for the brand?

Having investigated this with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, I obtained the following clarification..
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"If you were to supply a branded product, and to charge the differential, this could be interpreted as deviating from the charge set within legislation and could be problematic if regulatory/enforcing bodies become involved. This could be compounded by the grouping of the patient if classified as a vulnerable adult. 

Additionally there was some generic private care / NHS patients guidance which was published in 2009 following consultation and widespread discussion.

This is available on the link below

http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_096576.pdf

One of the executive key points was that the “NHS should never subsidise private care” "

So the bottom line is that to take money from patients to give the brand is frowned on and might be thought of as a breach of your terms of service!