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.

Sorry I thought you meant they see patients privately via private clinics. What you have just said is basically what I said in response to your other post. They provide an NHS service, however filling in forms regarding education is nothing to do with the NHS and so yes are allowed to charge.

@FrostedFancy

If you were a doctor would you do the kind of request you are asking for free then?

What if every appointment was used by people trying to get out of paying for forms?

Sounds like you want to abuse the system by using NHS funds for non-NHS work to save your own pocket. Then you'll complain the next time you're ill and can't get an appointment.

The GP is not funded to do this type of work, just as the supermarket is not funded to feed your child for free. You have to pay.

Not every death occurs in hospital.

If completing a cremation form you MUST see and examine the body. So for a pt who didn’t die in hospital that’s usually the GP, and it’s often at the funeral home.

It’s been a long time since I completed a cremation form but when I was a junior doctor it certainly took a fair amount of time and I did then before or after work. The payment came from the funeral directors - never from the family.

It's not a theory. This country has legislation to ensure that children with special educational and health care needs are addressed. One legal aspect of this is the requirement for partnership working between local authorities and local NHS service providers to assess and meet SEND children's needs.

To compare this with school discos suggests you have not understood the context.

🙄🙄🙄🙄

You don’t understand how GP practices work. GPs are entitled to charge for forms completing whether you like it or not so let’s just leave it at that!

Totally normal and your perspective is skewed because it involves an unwell child, which is sad but it does not reflect the greed of the system. By your logic, every single person who is ill or has poor MH should be entitled to everything for free if it's somehow related to their condition because otherwise it would be "disgusting" to profit off their sickness. How would an already beleaguered health service function if that rule was applied to all?

GPs have the right to charge for all types of paperwork confirmation. Our school required a overall certificate of health and we had to make an extra (private) appointment and paid over £120 for all of it. Participating in certain sports also require certificates and a brief health check, all of which must be paid for. Doing a drivers license requires an eye test that also needs to be paid for.

What’s that got to do with anything? This has nothing to do with the NHS or NHS service providers. That’s the whole point. The NHS don’t offer a form-filling service. Your local doctor will help you by doing the forms but you have to pay for it.

Having skim read through this thread, I think it's overwhelming that YABU OP

If you look at another professional eg solicitors, do you think they will be filling in/signing forms "for free"?

Why should GPs be any different? And it's not just signing/2 minutes filling in a form, they are taking responsibility for the information contained.

And in any case, as mentioned previously, this is all technically private work and needs to be paid for.

Also to add to my further reply, GPs generally don’t get involved in SEND needs, they tend to refer to outside services such as CAMHS. They also refer to ss if there is a safeguarding issue and may complete reports and attend safeguarding meetings. A GP alone is not qualified to get involved with SEND, they signpost so yes whilst they work together a GP isn’t the person people should be approaching regarding a child’s education. They are allowed to and do complete forms however they are allowed to charge, even if it’s for schools.

The services you mention above also liaise with the GP and send any correspondence from consultations and interactions they have with a child which is filed in a child’s medical records however every single one of these organisations get a copy of the same correspondence, that includes the school so the school shouldn’t really need a form completing anyway as they will already have the information they need with them which have been sent to them from other mental health services, CAMHS etc.

Imagine contributing more to society than what you're forced to 🙄

I highly doubt the OP has actually covered the cost of her own use of the NHS through her tax contributions. Unless she's on an absolute fortune of course.

Working with local authorities to ensure the special educational and health needs of children are met in an integrated way is very much the (legal) responsibility of the NHS. Different professions with involvement wih SEND children have a legal obligation to work together to ensure educational and healthcare needs are met in a joined up way. That can include involvement in various administrative processes.

Different professions with involvement wih SEND children have a legal obligation to work together to ensure educational and healthcare needs are met in a joined up way.

Absolutely agree with this @Deliria
But the responsibility for making recommendations and filling out forms should lie with the HCPs who are recommending online schooling as they are the ones with all the facts surrounding this. That may well not be the Gp.
It's actually recommending a whole adjustment to the child's life and how that should be managed.

The forms should probably be done by paediatrician/CPN/OT/social worker etc and the the OP wouldn't have to pay.
Sounds like there's been a lot of passing the buck here

When did the price hike?! Was £25 last time I checked. Won’t take 5 mins, they’re a piss take.

At one time, schools in our area were demanding a letter confirming a child had an appointment in school time or they wouldn’t allow them the time off. I wrote to all local schools saying we didn’t have the time to do this.
It’s crazy! Parents word should be enough.

As many people have said this is not NHS work so if they don't charge they are basically doing it for free. GPs get asked to do these kind of forms all the time, so it would be a significant amount of time on unpaid work. These forms take a lot more than 5 minutes to complete. It is the bodies requesting these forms that are at fault as they use them as a way to reduce costs and filter out people applying for additional support like this without having to take responsibility for the decision themselves. Basically everything public service is grossly underfunded so has to find was to reduce costs and pass the buck.

It's not NHS work. I work in a doctor's surgery and it doesn't just take 5 minutes - doctor may not know child very well and has to read through notes before filling in the form. Receptionist then has to spend time scanning it into the patient notes and recording it in consultation notes, so definitely not just 5 minutes work, and takes doctor and other staff away from doing other important NHS work.

It is 100% NHS work. Have a look at the NHS obligations under the Children and Families Act 2014. But as @HorMon flags, there may be a best placed practitioner than the GP.

Again, it is 100% NHS work. Have a look at the NHS obligations under the Children and Families Act 2014. But as @HorMon flags, there may be a best placed practitioner than the GP.

I haven't rtft but I do have children with additional needs. You will be able to claim dla and this will help with the costs of having a child with additional needs.

In this thread you can see clearly why the NHS is on its knees. Why no amount of funding will ever be enough. Why we have to be, slowly, weaned off the idea that everything is free and we must pay nothing for anything health related.

Completely standard to pay for this. Pay the money if it is so important for your child’s mental health. Stop complaining and pay. If it benefits your child and they are happier £40 is a small price to pay

Except from even when the NHS wasn’t on its knees, GPs have always charged for private work. Completing forms for education purposes is not part of the NHS, it is classed as private work for a GP

Perfectly normal.

er does their pay state free work for kids? No. Really? Are you actually mad about this