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.

You do know that the GP will read the Paeds letters then copy that on to the form? But you're fine that the Paediatrician can't do this form.

Sorry, the time used to complete this form is less time available to see NHS patients. Of course it's chargeable.

Your anger should absolutely be diverted to the school who have absolutely no legal obligation to ask for this.

The NHS has a responsibility to work in partnership with the LA to meet SEND children's health and educational needs in an integrated way. This is not chargeable. This is core NHS work. Costs of this should not be passed to families.

Oh bore off 🤣

I've given up arguing with Deliria luckily most people see this the same way,
One last time
@Deliria no idea what you're bringing in 'guardians of the NHS' My primary concern is not particularly the protection of GP time. It's the overwhelming bureaucracy created by other institutions to deny people the services they need. One of which is unnecessary letters from GPs. Policies and procedures are not set in stone they are created by human beings and often cumbersome in design precisely to deter other human beings from accessing resources.

If you've been through the process there is a form for every single thing, much of which doesn't require a GP sign off at all!

Not charging is just going to allow more of this nonsense. Quite frankly these BS documentation requirements should be banned.

you have no idea what 'partnership' and integration means you're just parroting it like ChatGPT. If they were truly partnering and integrated they'd pick up the phone and talk to each other not send forms back and forth ffs. Are you a management consultant by any chance...?

If you have been through the process not sure why you support all this paperwork. Even if you get it for free it still takes effort on your part

Guessing you don't have disabled child requiring agencies to join-up provision then?

Yes I think it’s best just ignore, they obviously have issues with understanding what they are being told. That poster can keep quoting the same sentence all they like, won’t change the fact GP’s are still allowed to charge for forms 😅

Yes I do. And also a child with ASD. I also used to work in a GP practice for many years! And so have way more knowledge and experience of this than you do 😅

Well I imagine you were in a good position to ensure legal obligations in respect of your child were met then?

Out of interest, in what capacity were you employed?

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

It's not what I support. It's what the law requires. It's not optional. Public servants don't get to pick.

GPs are within their rights to charge for such forms.

Wrong again but if it makes you feel better keep bleating all this nonsense then go ahead if it makes you happy. Nobody cares 🤣

Do you actually need the letter? You can have access to your (daughter's) medical notes which should include all the information you require. Of course, you'll have to sift through it and highlight her diagnosis.The way her health affects her day to day should be demonstratable. If the notes don't show this you're essentially asking for a review or assessment....which isn't 5mins.

If I want a medical to say drive a crane, I have to pay. You're not requesting heslthcare, you're requesting administration.

How odd.

As I've previously said, if it isn't in the contract between the NHS and the GP (who is neither an NHS employee nor a public servant), then it's not being paid for by the NHS. Someone has to pay for it. If you don't agree with this, then you should take it up with the higher levels of NHS management responsible for contracting services from GPs. Until then, GPs have businesses to run and overheads to meet, so can't go around giving their professional time away for free.

👌🤣

Do you do work for nothing?

I think the point is the NHS has a legal responsibility to work with the LA in order to do this. It is a matter of a statutory responsibility it is not a contract - it is not something either party can negotiate their way out of. So the NHS must make resources available to discharge this. Frankly it should hide the wiring from families of disabled children who could do without the runaround or witnessing the internicine commissioning wrangles some folks on here seem so excited by. We don't care. Sort yourselves out.

@Deliria sorry, I'm not one of those management people. Nor am I a GP. You'll need to pass on your sage advice to the relevant bodies in the NHS management system. PALS may be able to advise you on who to approach.

I actually agree that the commissioning contracts should ideally cover these sorts of things, but they don't. It's not a slight on you or anyone else, it's just reality.

The NHS doesn't have to statutory duty to provide whatever the LA tell them to particularly if they are not paid for it. There is nothing to stop the LA or school from paying the GP for the letter, if it is considered important for the child's education. When the DVLA wanted my GP to see me and write a letter they paid for it and I think other agencies do to.

Respectfully, go and read the Children and Families Act 2014, and stop making things up.

That is because there is not an act of Parliament requiring them to work in partnership to meet your needs! Do you not understand the difference?

Do you not understand what what working in a partnership means? It does not mean that the LA can tell the nhs what to do and that the NHS must pay for it.

I can see the OP's POV.

GPs have always been able to charge for non-standard forms.

However, in my case, I was never charged for forms in respect of my education. This also extended to my professional education when I was part of the working poor in my early 20s.

It's reasonable to charge for a non-standard letter for work or a hobby, but when it comes to someone's basic education, I don't think a charge should be applied to that person (or their guardian).

I suppose the more relevant question is, who should suffer the cost? Should the GP do this for free, or should someone else pay? The school? The NHS?

In this case, there doesn't actually seem to be a need for a form, it's an arbitrary school policy, so perhaps the GP should be able to bill the school for the letter. I mean, they won't be able to, but morally, I think they should be able to.

The point that a lot of people, including myself have pointed out though is that schools already have the information to hand. They are sent copies of clinic letters (same ones that are sent back to a GP from hospitals and various other establishments the child has been seen at) which all confirm a child’s diagnosis and all relevant information to do with the condition and treatment of the child. All a GP would be doing by filling out a form is to be writing the same information that are on this correspondence that has been ‘carbon coped’ to the school as well as it being in the child’s medical records. The difference is that the GP is signing the form and therefore makes them legally responsible to what they are signing to, therefore it allows the school to wash their hands of any legal responsibility and can then place the responsibility of all their decisions on the child’s education on the GP because they have ‘signed a document’! In most cases it is a complete waste of unnecessary time for the GP as they are only writing the same information on the form that the school has already been sent to them, hence the reason why they should charge