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.

But you would only need to complete a form that is related to the profession you work with. GP’s get all sorts of forms thrown at them - passport forms, criminal injuries compensation forms, mental health forms, travel cancellation forms, Mental health issues forms, solicitors reports, forms from the benefits agency just to name a few. Also, as I have stated above, the huge majority of mental health patients are referred to outside services such as mental health services, CAHMS, some are seen by professionals within their school so it is not directly related to the actual GP’s treatment of that patient whereas I imagine anything that you are asked to complete would be related to that specific area you work in.

Just had to pay £75 for a form to be filled out by my GP. Super expensive but that's the way it is.

I do think it's unfair to charge for a childs form though.

The paediatric team treating the health condition have said they can’t do the form, GP needs to do it as they have more info on general/mental health rather than just health condition treated by paed team.

GP surgery said paediatric team should be doing it. Pead team have also made a CAHMS referral AFTER GP supposedly did one as they thought two referrals might make it a bit more urgent. Only thing is, just found out GP didn’t actually make a referral to CAHMS, the GP falsely noted that that I’d agreed to ‘wait and see’ and bring DD back in a few months to review then make a referral if necessary. This is not what was said as I made an emergency appointment a month ago as DD in crisis and requested a referral then! GP also saying now CAHMS may refuse referral if more than one received!

Paed team still insisting GP has to do it despite me telling them GP charge and also give a time line of 4-6 weeks to complete forms like this. It’s literally a box on the form needed to be filled in stating if agree child has medical reason to access learning from home.

Why can’t GP tell me to book an appointment and use that to write a few words on the form rather than make me pay £40 and wait up to 6 weeks! Can’t do that apparently so it actually is profiteering of DD’s condition. Obviously I will pay it but I still think it is disgusting.

I do see GP as completing form as treatment in effect for mental abc health condition until can be seen by CAHMS. Stress makes health condition worse.

Trying to find a private therapist too.

Thr mental health condition is arising from the health condition. DD’s attendance has been 51% this term. 60% last year which is why I am trying to mitigate damage to education moving forwards and requesting online learning as missing so much of her education! Council need medical evidence that it is necessary but it’s not just the health condition affecting attendance,

All this had been going on for 3 weeks. I had hoped DD could start online learning at beginning of next term but won’t happen now.

Nothing comparable to doing letters for holiday insurance or lorry licence!

To top if off Paediatric team had a psychologist attached to team as it is common for mental health issues to arise from medical condition but they no longer fund one otherwise DD would have been seen quite soon and not have to wait for CAHMS!

It’s no wonder I’m pissed off really!

Most people agree NHS is on its knees. Most people think it needs better funding. However THEY dont want to pay anything more personally. That is for others to fund.

Forms have always been chargeable. I am not sure what difference it makes if the form is for a child.

GPs don't prescribe "home education" as treatment. Is it in the NICE guideline somewhere? For what condition? Which guideline?

Either/ or should be able to complete it. A gp would be the usual person to complete the form however the paediatric department specialising in your child’s treatment are way more qualified in that area than a GP would be hence why they are the ones treating your DD and not the GP.

OP the GP doesn’t have to fill in the form at all. No legal obligation. They could simply refuse.

Irabthebsirtbifnthing our old GP would have returned to reception with a "no charge" note. He has retired and the practice is under completely new management so I suspect thst won't be the case any more.

Referral to CAHMs only just been done so won’t be seen for months. How long will it take for them to do the form do you think?

I thought I’d read that somewhere actually.
I can’t say I’ve done that many tbh. The dentist has done more but probably won’t be from now on then 😀

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

Making a living from other peoples medical conditions is quite literally the job description of a GP.

Your local Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)may be able to advise you.

Exactly. The GP is apparently being asked to state that for medical reasons OP’s child needs home education. As a GP I know nothing about home education. I didn’t study home education. I studied medicine. I’m not qualified to state whether or not someone would benefit from home education. I can state that someone suffers from anxiety, if I’ve seen them as a patient. But I can’t prescribe what type of education they have.

Most surgeries pool the money and it just goes into the practice account. Some surgeries have a system where the doctors get the money individually, but that’s rare. Either way, it is taxed. It would be logged in the practice accounts as would all other income

Yes I imagine my practice is like that as I was told the admin staff actually write the letters, GP's just sign them maybe. They haven't managed the one I wanted though as it's quite specific so I'll probably have to see the doc in person.

@FrostedFancy PP's have probably said this but if you're on any income-related benefits make sure the charge isn't lower for you. Mine charges just £10 if the person's on certain benefits.

I work in camhs and consultants there do not charge to fill in such forms. YANBU

GPs can only fill in a form based on the information they currently have on a patient medical record so they can only give information on that form that has come from services that have already seen your DD and sent the clinic letters to the GP. If she has not been seen by CAHMS then nothing can be written on the form about it apart from that a referral has been made

CAHMS isn’t a GP practice!!!!!!

I have absolutely no idea why you are getting a hard time OP. I don't know much about GP forms but I too, would have been surprised that under 18's were being charged. Hope all goes well.

Is it an NHS dentist that you work for? I assume so, because otherwise you couldn’t possibly be implying that Doctors were money grabbing. Private dentistry is a licence to print money as far as I can see!

GP surgeries are business centres.

Well we can't have everything for free it has to be paid for somehow. Are you willing to pay more taxes to fund the NHS more? If its not from more taxes what other service should the money come from to pay for free letters? Love to here what your solution would be, shall we take the money away from social care?

It's standard for a GP surgery to charge for this kind of work

Imagine all the forms that need completing over a week/month, it's not just "5 mins of their time"

Plus it's non standard NHS work so needs to be charged

A consultant working for the NHS is not the same as a GP. A GP works privately and the NHS contract out services. Writing reports etc are not covered and so not paid for by the NHS contract, so why should they do it free? I don't work for free personally. The consultant, an employee of the NHS or a locum on behalf of has these duties encompassed as part of their role.

Yes, it seems that people think doctors and nurses should work simply for the love of it!

@littlebopeepp234 I know it's not 🙄 but if her dd has been referred to Camhs then it might be worth waiting rather than paying £40 for 5 mins of their time.