To be slightly annoyed re gp letter?

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Am flying to Disney paris on sunday, 30 weeks pregnant. Rang gp to arrange checkup so he could do letter to state I'm fit to fly, as per airline rules.
He doesn't need to see me apparently, as he can see everything he needs to know from my notes. I haven't seen a gp since 21 weeks for a chest infection.
I picked up said letter this morning, paid £20 for the priviledge. Opened it up and said, in 3 lines, that I'm having an uncomplicated pregnancy and he therefore considers me fit to fly. Thing is, I'm under consultant care because i have several high risk factors, borderline high bp at my last check last week, and they haven't seen my hand held notes which are very detailed!
Aibu to feel a) slightly ripped off that I have paid £20 for 3 line standard letter which will have taken approximately 2 minutes to amend to show my name, and probably about 5 minutes to check the limited amount of notes about my pregnancy that he actually has available to him?
B) slightly concerned that I'm getting on a plane without any idea of whether I'm actually fit to fly or not?

Never assume that GPs and hospitals actually communicate. Hospitals only ever send [short] discharge notes once you're discharged. If you want the GP to know anything, you personally have to tell them... and never assume they'll actually make note of this for future reference either.

And how are you planning on getting plenty of rest whilst at Disney? Personally I wouldn't risk it. It wouldn't be the flight so much that would worry me though, more being over in another country.

"but assumed that the gp would have at least the consultant information to hand"

Why would you assume that?

Although if the GP referred you, they obviously know that you are under a consultant.

I had my ds at 32 weeks. Just saying

When I was in hospital & couldn´t remember if I was allergic to penecillin or something else, I said maybe they could contact my GP as it was on the front of those notes.

Oh no, that wasn´t going to happen!

I agree fivesgoldnorks the GP should be ensuring this and may have based on the information he/she had. However I think that we need to assume that healthcare staff don't always have access to all of our records (eg hospital notes may not be accessible to GP) and so be clear about what is needed and about our situation.

Healthcare staff are often slated for communication but works both ways, we all need to be clear. We don't know exactly what OP asked the GP surgery for but for example may be along the lines of 'I'm pregnant and going to France and need a fitness to fly letter.' whereas they may have got a response that better met their needs by saying 'I'm pregnant and have been under xx consultant for some complications. I want to fly to France for a holiday, can I have an appointment to discuss the risks of travel?' or similar.

I just assumed that since he didn't need to see me that he must have access to the notes from my recent consultant check up, because surely no one can determine if I'm fit to fly without either seeing me or reading notes from someone who has seen me recently?

i think you're getting an unfair pasting on here! Yes £20 is not a lot for a private consultation but she's not asking for a private consultation - she's paying for the letter not a consultation (which would be free on the NHS anyhow!) but which the doctor should not have given if he hadn't seen her - and he certainly shouldn't have said it was an uncomplicated pregnancy if it wasn't!

Having said that, you're flying to Paris - the chances of anything untoward happening on that short flight are very slim (and the airlines only care that you don't give birth on the plane). So I don't think flying is an issue but the only person who can decide if you should be travelling at all is you and your regular medical advisor so maybe that is who you should be asking?

Well common sense would suggest that yes

What confuses me is that you got the letter this morning (according to your op) then booked the flight later this morning (according to a later post).

so at some point this morning you thought the letter was satisfactory. What happened between this morning and this afternoon that had now made you unhappy about it.

That's my point soapnuts, there's no way of knowing that the GP was aware that it was anything other than an uncomplicated pregnancy. The days of your GP knowing you and even your recent medical history are gone. Most people are now under a medical practice and will be seen by different GPs not always the same one and GPs will be seeing many, many patients. They are therefore reliant on notes which may or may not be complete and accurate so the more info you give about what you want and your situation the better. I'm certainly not pasting you OP just giving my opinion about why this may have happened and perhaps how you may get a response which is better for you.

I picked up the letter, txt dh who booked flights. Then I actually opened the letter and realised they obv hadn't got all my notes.

But if OP is seeing a consultant-doesn´t that mean that the GP referred her?

If not then why didn´t OP ask the consultant??

Diddl yes the Op will have been referred to the consultant but it may have been a different GP in the practice, it may have been the practice midwife who referred or it may have been the GP that the OP saw this time but in the intervening months and hundreds of other patients they won't remember referring. They are therefore reliant on the notes which may not be accurate, may be incomplete or may be illegible.

I agree that contacting the consultants team would probably get athe best result in terms of accurate info for the OP but I think that most people's first thought would be to contact the GP.

But if OP is seeing a consultant-doesn´t that mean that the GP referred her?

I didn't see my go at all. My mw referred me.

OP I think you know you should have opened it. You obviously had certain expectations. I don't know where you got those expectations, but you are annoyed your go hasn't met them. The reality is those expectations weren't accurate.

The letter is actually the airline covering their arses in case something happens on the flight and you sue. It's not a cast iron guarantee that everything will pass without a hitch.
If you're concerned about your bp, why are you booking a flight anyway? You can use your own discretion, you know.

But if OP was referred by another GP or a MW at the same practice-it would be in her notes that she was under x consultant?

I think you've had some unfair reactions here OP - you haven't used this service before and assumed yu would get a letter referring to your particular situation. I don't think you were unreasonable at all to expect this. Hope you have a good time.

I don't agree with what the GP did, but for a different reason (I'm a GP).

GPs are not trained to assess fitness to fly unless they are also an aviation doctor. Airlines often have their own rules about fitness, and sometimes it's obvious one way or the other (6 weeks in to uncomplicated pregnancy vs 36 weeks with twins and multiple health problems for example), but for any middle ground most GPs will write something along the lines of "Mrs X is 32 weeks pregnant with a single pregnancy and has X and Y conditions. She is under consultant care", and let the airline decide on fitness to fly. It's as much about your health as about the plane not having to land early due to problems.

GPs get so many letters to do these days asking if patients are fit to do things like acting, taking part in TV quizes, going on expeditions, use the gym etc etc. How are we meant to know what's involved in every activity and therefore assess fitness? It's not something we're trained to do, we're trained to diagnose and treat medical problems and in my opinion we've got enough work on without doing all these extra things.

The £20 would be reasonable if the doctor had gone through the notes and filled out the form. This includes his/her time and overheads including the building, receptionist, typist and indemnity insurance should you complain or sue following a wrong decision.

diddl do you need your ds's passport urgently?

Doctors aren't allowed to countersignitories for patients anymore ( due to them charging for the service) they are still allowed to sign for friends etc.

Many doctors aren't aware of the change in law (DH and I are doctors) And I only became aware when I saw a thread about it on mn.

Just worried your passport may be delayed.

"diddl do you need your ds's passport urgently?"??

Sorry diddl, it was fakebook. On page 2, the post was next to yours and I read it incorrectly.

It said she'd just paid £20 for her ds's passport countersignitories.