School asking for medical evidence.

[Flossy1989]

DD attendance is not the best it's 89.6 she's off now with sickness abd and the poops. The school is asking for medical evidence. I mentioned this some time ago to the gp. Gp said they should not be demanding medical evidence. Also I don't take my children to the gp over a tummy bug. It's not needed and it's wasting GP time.

I'm tempted to send them a picture of her vomit. I won't. It just really pisses me off gp is not impressed either from what he said before.

I'm on hold to gp /reception now doubt I will get anywhere. Caller number 15

Just send them the picture. The GP surgery have more important things to do.

Send the picture.

If you can get the GP to send a letter confirming they will not be wasting nhs time doing this.

Yes my sons school have also sent me letters 3 times now to say if he is off again I will need to provide a doctors letter.

🤣 don't think I can really send it . I will probably get into trouble.

Nobody needs a doctors letter before 1 week and they cannot demand one legally. Tell them the doctor refused. My boss tried this one and my GP absolutely refused to go along with it so the company just gave up in the end.
They are a school not God.

Post a package of diarrhoea to them.
They won't ask again

The school has said they have it down as unauthorised until I show medical evidence.

So they're choosing to put you at risk of a fine when you are reporting illness? Send them the pic of the vomit and advise the attendance officer is welcome to come bear witness if they don't believe you.

To be fair, her attendance is extremely low.
Does she have health issues, or is she just sick a lot?

Then reply saying that the GP has stated that he does not need to see her and unfortunately it will have to stay unauthorised.

There is something of a tussle at the moment going on with schools where they are being instructed to ask for GP notes for absence and the GP organisations are (correctly) saying this is an absolute waste of NHS time.

gpsoe.org.uk/gpsoe/assets/Schools%20Sickness%20Letter%20Request%202018%20Guidance%20v3.pdf

Some surgeries will provide this letter as non-nhs work - so will charge normally around 35 pounds for it. Contact your surgery and ask how much, then let the school know that if they pay the 35 pounds each time they can have the letter.

Example policy:

www.st-georgessurgery.co.uk/practice-information/school-sick-note-for-children/

The Working Together to Improve School Attendance document found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf states on page 58:

"219. Schools should advise parents to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend due to illness. Schools must record absences as authorised where pupils cannot attend due to illness (both physical and mental health related).

220. In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is ill can be accepted without question or concern. Schools should not routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness. Schools are advised not to request medical evidence unnecessarily as it places additional pressure on health professionals, their staff and their appointments system particularly if the illness is one that does not require treatment by a health professional. Only where the school has a genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence."

You could ask whether the school has a genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of your child's illness, and if so, to elaborate their concerns.

I ignore these requests. Wait and if they ask again send poo sample to school

They could say its because her attendance is 89.6?

Sometimes being very blatant with people like that is the only way they will act appropriately.

Shes had some time off due to illness ect . I'm going to have a proper look in a bit at emails. To work out the exact times she's had off etc . I can't do it just now though.

Could I get into trouble though?

My sons school also did this. I contacted my GP surgery and asked for a print out of all the times he had been seen and all the times I had called to make an appointment.

@Flossy1989 fyi

https://attendancesolutionsessex.org/page/lost-hours-of-learning.html

eta; you may be fined?

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/02/29/fines-for-parents-for-taking-children-out-of-school-what-you-need-to-know/

I was going to say what @Lougle said. They are only allowed to ask for medical evidence if they think there is a genuine reason to doubt what you are telling them - i.e. they are calling you a liar when you say she is sick.

I got a letter stating the same for my son when his attendance dropped below 94%. I replied that I would not be providing medical evidence and would not be wasting NHS resources in asking for a GP’s appointment over a simple stomach bug/cold etc. They could either take my word for it or report me for unauthorised absence and I will say the same to the council attendance team.

As far as today goes I’d email and say you cannot provide medical evidence of a sickness bug as it doesn’t require medication or a GP appointment. If they push you I would offer to send photographic evidence - I‘ m sure they will change their mind.

My school tried this back in the 60s. Met with a flat refusal from every local GP practice and, eventually, had to back down.

That's fine if they have been seen . There's no reason I need to take a teenager or even contact the gp over a teen with a belly bug

Shes had some time off due to illness ect .

What's the etc?

If she's off for around 1 day every two weeks then that does seem really high and it's a bit weird that you're vague about what's causing it.

Do you have form for taking her out for holidays?

@Flossy1989 That attendance is incredibly low. Does she have health issues?

@Flossy1989 I mean- it's about a day a week, I think. 7 weeks a year!

As a gp I tell parents I’m happy for the school to ring me….I will enjoy telling them in graphic detail for 20 mins the stages of creating the shits and exactly how those shits looked/smelt and felt.

I will ask them if they wish the shits bottled before they receive them or in a paper e envelope?

Then I will explain slowly why this a is a complete fucking waste of my time and that if they require any further ‘medical evidence’ it will be billed at my private rate as non of this is NHS/GMS contract…..

it only took this once to stop the nonsense of the local high school.