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.

They’re being paid! It’s for an NHS patient they are prescribing treatment for. Like they would prescribe a med to be collected from the pharmacy. This is not an unknown or private patient. They’re paid to treat the NHS patients registered to their surgery.

one of my DC spent a long time doing online learning as she was not well enough to go to school. We never needed a form. I think your beef should be with school.

It's interesting that your GP will provide this! Guidance went out to GPS in September asking them not to do this, as they don't have enough knowledge of a child's mental health state and what they're capable of accessing, and ideally it should come through CAHMS etc.

But the way to get around the charge is to sign a data sharing agreement with the school, confirming they can speak directly to the GP to access your child's medical records. The school can then contact the GP directly for this information, and no-one gets charged.

Lots of parents would prefer to pay the charge than to have the school access their child's medical records though I imagine.

It's not an nhs service so is chargeable.

The problem is the school/LA asking for something they don't need to provide the education they are law bound to provide.

Provide them copies of the letters you have from consultations. Then include the dr information and cost and tell them they can ask for more information if they want it under the GP private work and ask how they intend to pay?

As education is free in this country they cannot refuse to provide a suitable education to a pupil because their parent(s) can't afford private GP letters.

We pay for the NHS in our taxes. OP has already paid. The GP will receive payment for the child being registered to the surgery. Her child is not a private patient. The letter is to prescribe treatment for her child’s medical treatment.

Charging is ok but £40 does sound a lot. I'd be imagining 25, but that was probably a few years ago I guess, and everything's gone up. Especially given GPs have a lot more patients now maybe.

But this has nothing to do with their medical treatment or prescription.

That would be great if access to specialists could be had in an appropriately timely manner!

Is your daughter under a consultant for her health issues? Is there any way the consultant could do it?

Eh? The adjustments to learning are required because of a medical condition - they treat the medical condition, in an equivalent fashion to a medication, which a GP absolutely would prescribe. This child would not need the adjustments if she did not have the medical condition.

They’re being paid! It’s for an NHS patient they are prescribing treatment for. Like they would prescribe a med to be collected from the pharmacy. This is not an unknown or private patient. They’re paid to treat the NHS patients registered to their surgery.

@ATerrorofLeftovers It's a private service. Same as dentists can have both NHS and non-NHS services offered for the same patients.

Contrary to the beliefs of much of the general public, GPs are a private business who provide certain services under contract to the NHS. Anything else requested of them and they can choose to do it - or not - and charge accordingly - just like a solicitor would.

I used to find that taking quick forms to hospital appointments and getting consultants to sign them was much easier and free.

As others have said, if your child has a diagnosis there will already be a trail of evidence. The school is at fault for requiring more.

It shouldn’t be, if it’s within the scope of treating the child’s medical condition. In OP’s shoes I would have a poor opinion of any GP looking to profit from my child’s medical condition in this way.

They’re not being paid. It’s not a core service. They are paid by NHSE for specific core services. Filling in forms is not one of them. You can look up core services if you want to.

It’s standard practice. I can’t remember the statute but sure the school ought to be making reasonable adjustments anyway though?

😵‍💫

I had to pay if I remember correctly £50.00 (it may have been more) for a medical examination and letter to say DD was fit to take part in a ballet audition and fit to go to the school. Fortunately the vocational schools stopped asking for this not long after as I think a lot of parents complained, the auditions cost enough without this on top. This was 15 years ago so no small amount

I'm sure the poster can read the OP as well as you
They are clearly asking why the school needs this information on a designed form signed by a medical professional rather than just a copy of the child's health records (which are free to access and which, if its a significant condition will obviously refer to it) or undertaking their own assessment, etc.

Which OP probably can't answer but follows the general theme stated by many posters that if she's unhappy about something take it to the body causing the issue rather than the person having the temerity to charge you for solving it.
Like you had a problem with your car raise it to the manufacturer rather than complaining that the garage is charging you to fix it.

I don’t disbelieve you that they can charge for this. Nothing about the degradation of the NHS offer surprises me these days. They shouldn’t though.

I’m old enough to remember when if you needed this sort of thing you’d have to go for an appointment and they would write the letter and give it to you there and then. I thought it was a step forward that you now don’t have to take an appointment from somebody who is actually ill and in need of seeing a doctor, but it seems it’s been taken as an opportunity to charge extra for something that used to be seen as all part of the service. It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, as I would like to think my GP would care about the treatment my child gets for their medical condition and it would damage my trust in them.

I’m a bit surprised by the general attitude of shrugging on this thread, but then we’re all being carefully conditioned to lower our expectations of the NHS more and more.

GPs, just like dentists and opticians who provide NHS services are private businesses who the NHS contracts to provide specific services. Those services are what we pay for via taxes and NI and hence are free at the point of delivery.
If a particular service is not covered by that contract then they will generally provide it for a fee, assuming of course that they have the required expertise. But the clinicians don't make the rules.
Not everything we might individually like or believe should be covered by the NHS is unfortunately and there are without doubt things which would benefit people that aren't. But if you're unhappy, the people to complain to are your MPs, not your GPs who, like most of the rest of us, will do what they are contracted and paid for at work. There would be a cost to increasing the scope of the NHS of course - it would either cost more, and that cost would presumably be reflected in our taxation, or something else would have to go. Given how difficult it is to get a GP appointment in most places these days, I suspect that if push came to shove more people would prefer that as much NHS money as possible was spent on staff providing direct clinical care and so would put up with a fee for a letter every now and then.

Thank you for the superb clarifications. I am not a mind reader, so I would not have known all of the additional info you provided was what she was asking.

That has nothing to do with the GP, though. The GP treats the medical condition or refers to a specialist. They have nothing whatsoever to do with a school’s demands for a letter.

Now, I do agree with you that schools should absolutely minimise their asks in this regard and only request letters when truly necessary.

They have to charge for any work not covered by the NHS, for children as well as adults.

Use an analogy - if there was a legal argument, rather than a medical one about the entitlement to online learning...

How many people would expect, or think it would be reasonable to ask a lawyer to provide the documentation for free?