AIBU to think £32 for a doctor's letter is extortionate!

[Pebble21uk]

My partner's 40th birthday yesterday and we were due to go away for the weekend. We've had to cancel as she has cellulitus. Phoned the doctors this morning to get a letter for our travel insurance company confirming this and was told the cost will be £32. Is it me or is that extortionate? I'm sure when I've needed letters in the past it's been no more than £20... are doctors now going in line with the cost of lawyer's letters! Who gets the money anyway - the doctor or the surgery?

lime i was just told i was “fine” but not given exact results. i had symptoms of anaemia after beig diagnosed coeliac and was told i was “fine”.

i didnt believe them and asked for a print out. my ferritin, haemoglobin and MCV were all way below the lower limit, they were even bolded on the results page!

i switched GP surgery after that and my new GP said i should have been receiving treatment after those results.

Dr Foxtrot that is the most human and positive reply I've had on this thread - thank you. I can afford £32 and we're talking about a holiday (that doesn't mean I still don't think it's too high even given all the reasoning thrown at me) but I've seriously been wondering all day how some people in less fortunate financial positions could afford any letters needed that are outside what is deemed as a normal remit.

Private doctors and lawyers' time etc is usually at least £200 to £400 an hour so £32 by the time you add on cost of paper, secretary to type, checking it etc is very very little indeed. The doctor will net only about half of that anyway after expenses taken account of and then tax and NI so if I were the doctor I would refused to do that kind of thing just as I am a lawyer always refuse all requests to do things like certify documents - it's not worth the hassle for the low fees.

We’ve never had to pay for anything like this ??

@Pebble21uk you did 4 years of exams for your job, doctors do a minimum of 8 (for GP) up to about 15 for some specialities.

And who says you’re enough to be a doctor anyway? Requires some common sense, which I haven’t seen you use on this thread.

People are too used to the NHS being free at point of use.

Yashu. £32 sounds good to me.

Yabu (not Yashu!)

GetInMaBelleh I always find resorting to flinging personal insults shows a lack of ability to form a proper argument.

@Pebble I am simply pointing out simple facts.

GetInMaBelleh I think you might need to find out the difference between fact and opinion

Fact- you need common sense to be a doctor
Fact- you haven’t used common sense in this thread

GetInMaBelleh - I believe you have just proved both my points

It is a bit of tricky area really because some people genuinely cannot afford GP letters and need them to support claims for disability benefits etc.

@GladAllOverWhat are the differences?
Sick notes are a statutory document required for national insurance purposes because they affect sick pay.

Travel insurance is for an optional, luxury product.

Seems a bit shit. All this talk about the doctor's training and expertise, surely that's done when they diagnose the patient on the NHS! Including telling the patient they're not fit to travel. Does the letter need do anything more than 'officially' confirm what was already said in the GP visit?

But with the NHS chronically funded, I guess charging for this sort of letter is one of the few ways GPs can get the revenue they need to meet their overall expenses.

We were £50 for doctor to check & countersign a fit to travel form that I had to complete for her to go on an overseas trip with girl guiding

Why do people quibble about paying for a letter from their GP but not from a solicitor?

Sick notes are part of the contract that the GP has with NHS England - it’s part of their job. Private notes aren’t and it’s something that they can choose to do or not do. If you don’t want to pay the charge to your GP then find a private doctor instead.

@GladAllOver I see that, of course, but people have been talking about the work/time involved justifying the cost.

The 'moral' aspect of a fit note being a statutory requirement and an insurance letter being a luxury doesn't change the time/effort/accumulated skill and knowledge required for a doctor to produce one.

I must stress, I am not condemning the cost involved or belittling the worth of the doctor's knowledge, I'm just questioning why one should be chargeable and the other not - if it's a moral reason, fair enough.

The GP has to take on responsibility for it if the insurance company comes knocking.

It's 9-10 years to be a fully qualified GP from start of med school. Not particularly relevant but just saying !

Thanks Pebble we are supposed to be consistent but I won’t deny somebody the paperwork they need to make a difference to things like benefits appeals, really important things, if they can’t afford it.

And PP is right, it’s not just paying for time, it’s our word and responsibility. It does take time to review notes and check you’ve not missed anything that could come back and get you in bother.

The NHS is there to treat patients
It should also give free letters if required for statutory disability or sickness benefits etc

It should not fund the cost of claiming back money on an optional consumer luxury, like holidays

So that is the doctor's private work, in their own time, for which they use their own professional insurance

OP - are you a teacher?