To think this is disgusting - GP charging for form

[FrostedFancy]

GP surgery insist I must pay £40 for completion of a form from school to request online learning for my DD (14) who is suffering from MH issues due to being diagnosed with a serious health condition.

AIBU to think this is absolutely disgusting to profit from a child with medical condition and mental health issues needing access to an education?

Form literally would take 5 minutes to complete.

Exactly! Everyone just likes to drag the GP into it so that the GP can put their name to and sign the document and then if anything goes wrong they can blame the GP for it while everyone else washes their hands of any responsibility

GP cannot “prescribe” anything that is not medical and that is not outlined in NICE guidelines. Why is it so difficult to understand? If anything, OP needs to see an occupational therapist as they are much better placed to identify what non-medical adjustments are needed to mitigate the condition. But god forbid the practice receptionist ever suggests you see someone either than your GP. They will be labelled “GP police”.

I believe the latest guidance says 6 days now (for illness).

Yup - there are even some medications that even a GP cannot prescribe and can only be prescribed by a specialist at a hospital or other care provider. But some people just don’t seem to understand this and seem to think GPs just choose to do stuff willy nilly.

But @FrostedFancy the work of the form isn’t covered by the NHS, so they can’t do it in the appointment. I get you’re upset, but you’re asking for a service so you have to pay.

If you don’t like it think about who you voyage for at the next election.

hope your daughter starts to improve soon

Thankfully I haven’t had need to read the document in a few years but if that is the case even better!

although getting them to do what the should be in a whole different issue

Exactly. It drives me mad that each month as well as ordering ds meds from the GP I have to order from three different specialist routes but I know that’s not the GPs fault, or anyone’s fault really, it’s just the complexity of the situation of making sure things are right!

We had to fill in a bupa form this month for my husband. He gets it through work.

No one at the surgery knew how to fill it in so my DH did and they just signed it. Cost us £50 for a signature.

I'd imagine most people in the situation described by OP already claim DLA. DLA being the benefit provided for exactly this type of situation i.e. additional expenses associated with disability.

If OP has not already applied for DLA, she should do so.

If OP is already in receipt of DLA, she's a CF.

Unlikely a diagnosis is required for a reasonable adjustment. It will be evidence of functional incapacity that is likely being sought.

I'm not very familiar with the Children and Families Act 2014 but this places duties of cooperation on local NHS services to to cooperate with LAs to assess and meet childrens' special educational needs. So this request would not necessarily fall outside the NHS's remit?

It would be outrageous for children with long term health conditions not to be provided with a suitable education simply becuase their family couldn't lay hands on £40.

I was absolutely disgusted when my Mum's GP charged £87 to sign her death certificate. It must have taken him all of 10 seconds. On the other hand we needed to visit a Solicitor so that my Dad could sign a declaration which was witnessed. Solicitor took the time to explain to ensure he understood and we spent at least 20 minutes with her. She charged him £5

Do you have experience working in a GP practice? You really don’t sound like you do.

GPs do and can charge for forms filling in - it is classed as private work. They may work along side other local services but they do not work for them and they have no obligation to provide a non NHS service free of charge. Other services whether it be education etc are classed as third parties and not directly anything to do with the NHS. The only time a GP tends not to charge for a form filling is if it’s for another NHS organisation .

How would they know how it effects them at school without looking into their records and maybe other research. It doesn't sound like a five minute job.

Are GPs meant to be telepathic? How would they know how your particular DC’s mental health is affected by f2f schooling and predict that online learning will be better? What if your DD decides in years to come that the GP was fucking wrong and scuppered her career chances etc.

It’s not a 5 minute job and, frankly, it’s not a GP remit.

@Diversion you didn’t pay £87. I think your funeral director did. He probably also charged you ££ for flowers or whatever, but that’s ok.

Exactly. The notion that the gp should just meekly write whatever the parent demands is mind boggling, tbh.

If the online learning is required for a medical reason then the form should actually be filled in by the professional who has recommended it. They will be the person who knows all the details around the health condition, how school is affecting the child and how online schooling will benefit them

I was absolutely disgusted when my Mum's GP charged £87 to sign her death certificate. It must have taken him all of 10 seconds.

You want the GP to just spend ten seconds scrawling his or her name on the certificate without taking any steps to establish the cause of death?

Any time a GP signs anything, that's his or her professional reputation and livelihood, maybe even personal liberty, on the line.

Are you in the habit of signing your name to anything that's put in front of you, without taking time to etablish what you're signing and whether it's truthful and accurate?

@HonoriaLucastaDelagardie The cause of death was very obvious, a form of cancer which she had for the last 10 years which had almost led to her death due to complications several years before this. It was not unexpected as her notes (scans, blood tests etc) showed that the cancer was widespread and had affected several of her organs. Please do not jump to conclusions, I would never ask anyone to sign nor would I sign anything without knowing the full details.

Sorry, I think you must be mistaken. Both my parents have died and I definitely didn't pay the doctor to certify the death. It was about £10 each for copies of the certificate but no fee to the doctor. In fact I just Googled and found a list on the BMA website of certificates that doctors are not allowed to charge for and death certificates are amongst those.
Are you sure it wasn't for a cremation certificate? I recall there being fees for that. About £80 each to 2 doctors if I recall rightly. Again, Google tells me that 2 doctors need to independently examine the body of the deceased before each completing a form that is 7 pages long. Obviously there needs to be a thorough process as there's no way to ever examine the body again if foul play or something is later suspected. Doesn't sound like a 10 second job to me.

GPs aren't allowed to charge to sign death certificates but they do charge for signing the cremation forms which is fair enough (well, via the funeral director). If they did indeed charge for the death certificate then report them.

They have to check... Anyone could have decided to hasten her end.
You do sound as though you think he should have signed without knowing the full details, what's your gripe otherwise?

Maybe the GP thinks that the best treatment for the child is to go to school.

When my MIL and DSis died, their GPs provided their MCCD - medical certificate of cause of death. With my DF and DM, as they died in hospital a Junior doctor completed their MCCDs. In all cases, the copies went electronically to the registrars who we then had to attend to register the deaths. We then received the death certificates, and we had to pay for additional copies.
GPs cannot provide death certificates!

Yep, that’s the bottom line, and one of the reasons GPs charge. It’s not just time and effort, it’s responsibility. If people want the buck to stop with someone, that someone has to be paid to take that responsibility.