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.

“Eagerness to charge” is a bit of a distortion, isn’t it? What makes you think it’s eagerness rather than need or necessity or covering the extra insurance they need to pay for private work?

GPs don't clock on and off and nor do other doctors. Solicitors, etc most certainly do charge for every service, down to 5 minute tasks so not sure these comparisons are helpful.

As has already been discussed by multiple posters, this is not a medical need. A medical need would need covered by the NHS. This is the school requesting further, unnecessary paperwork.

It may not be in all cases, but I gather from friends and colleagues who are GPs that neither they nor their practices are on the breadline, so it seems to be a choice rather than a necessity. For some patients, though, charging will cause financial hardship or be simply unaffordable.

You must have missed my response to LadyWithLapdog. I was rather hoping posters would be able to take the spirit of the comment, rather than be totally literal, but obviously I wasn’t clear enough. Not all professionals with career type jobs not entitled to overtime will just do their set hours. In fact hardly any do. But you know that, don’t you.

Depends on your viewpoint. To me, if a person’s medical condition leads to a need for adjustments, that’s a medical need. Because it’s a medical need that requires treatment and the person wouldn’t need it if it weren’t for the medical condition they suffer. This is undoubtedly a lay-person’s view, though, not one coloured by the bureaucratic processes and strictures of the NHS.

But it's not "overtime" is it? That would be staying in the surgery until all the booked patients had been seen or staying late to finish your admin. I think GPs do that kind of think pretty routinely. But this is effectively a different job, being done for a different employer.
I think GPs relationship with the NHS is kind of analagous to solicitors working for a client but being paid by an insurance company. I've just been in that situation as the claimant in a personal injury case following a car crash. I made my contributions, in the shape of my insurance premiums, so my legal "treatment" was free at the point of delivery and I never saw the bill, not unlike being an NHS patient. However, I imagine there was a detailed contract between the insurers and the law firm laying out what was expected of them, what the insurers would pay for and what they wouldn't etc. Suppose I had asked my solicitor to write a letter for something that was peripherally connected to my accident but not included in the contract with my insurers - would anyone realistically expect him to have done that for nothing? I doubt it. I would have expected one of 2 things to happen. Either he would have said sorry, that's not included in our contract with your insurers but our company's rate for that type of work is £X and you can pay us directly, or I'd have got a flat no. Why would it be any different for a GP being asked to provide something non NHS funded for an NHS patient?
Whether that is the right way for GP practices to contact with the NHS is a separate issue and is indeed worthy of debate. But it is the way things are and it's a long standing model. It's not unreasonable for GPs to expect to be paid directly for work that is outside their contract any more than it would be for anyone else.

Still not understanding your point as it doesn't seem relevant. This discussion is nothing to do with overtime.
The school already have access to paperwork from specialists and can discuss needs with the young person and her parent(s)/ guardian(s). There is no need for GPs to be involved in the great majority of these decisions when the school already has information available to them. It appears to be back covering rather than a need.

Yeah, unfortunately, this has always been chargeable for children and adults alike

Tell whoever's asking for the paperwork what the GP WILL provide and lodge a complaint with the MP/ombudsman/standards/whatever that unnecessary paperwork is being demanded

Have you not read the full thread? It wasn’t me who spoke about this as being equivalent to overtime, it was the posters justifying the charge. I was merely addressing that point that others had made.

Are you a GP?