GP charging for blue badge letter - disabled child

[GPlettercharge]

Just checking if this is usual practice to be charged for a GP to write a supporting letter for a blue badge application for a disabled child?

My child is 5, has profound learning difficulties and ASD. Is non verbal and attends specialist school. Displays many challenging behaviours and has no sense of danger. Regularly refuses to walk and can also try to run into the road etc.

Our local authority are notoriously difficult in giving out blue badges and I was advised by his specialist school to get a supporting letter from the GP to apply for a blue badge as they’ve seen first hand how dangerous he is in a car park.

Our GP had an appt with him and has agreed to write the letter. However they have charged £40 for this.

Is this standard? It seems excessive, it’s not as though we’ve asked for a letter to support us going on holiday or something. This is for a disabled child!

I suppose I will pay it if necessary but wanted to check if this was the norm.

Thanks

Does the DLA mobility not garauntee him a blue badge? I can reapply for my blue badge early next year with my standard PIP mobility or a medical letter from my rheumatology consultant (arthritis).

I am afraid, it is standard. GPs private limited partnerships are businesses, making money - remember 'I have stuffed their mouths with gold'?

@Isobel201 only high rate mobility DLA automatically entitles someone to a blue badge. Just like only certain PIP mobility awards automatically entitle someone to a blue badge.

Many of us do lots for the community for nothing in return pay-wise: e.g I ran both brownies and beavers, was district commissioner overseeing safeguarding of 3000 children and 76 volunteer staff, for 4 years. Gave up multiple evenings and weekends running camping events etc, looking after both able bodied and the less able, giving parents of SEN child respite. DH also coached the cricket team for 6 years. Not so much as an expense claim for petrol.

Perhaps you could share what YOU do for your community in terms of time away from family for no pay?

It didn't use to be, my GP wrote mine but it was 15 years ago when the GP decided whether you needed one . I think it's a crying shame they charge, it's to do with your health and well being.

You've had some ridiculous replies here, especially those saying this is what DLA/PIP is for, as if that covers the cost of everything a severely disabled child's needs. It's baffling that some people think you could have money leftover each month from those payments to even put towards a £40 GP letter.

The GP will charge because it's outside the scope of NHS work. That is as simple as it needed to be said. Until you're in this position it's not crazy to be unsure of what constitutes "outside the scope" and it's certainly not as obvious as something like asking them for a fit to fly note etc.

OP, I would "drown them" with paperwork. Send everything. Consultant letters, DLA/PIP letters, ask the school to write something on headed paper, ask the senco to also write something, see if their teacher will, depending on the child's age (can't remember if you stated or not) speak to the local HV team and see if they'll write something about your child's development vs what would be reasonably considered "normal" for the age. Eg, unsafe around roads without supervision etc. If you have any school reports that mention anything about 1-1 supervision or lack of awareness at danger, literally anything. Copies of prescriptions, any GP letters in the same 12 months, just absolutely everything you have. The bulkier it seems you may just be accepted without the need to appeal.

I would also write to your reform candidate (and add a copy of your letter to your blue badge application) and say you hope they're going to reform the current process of needing to take these things to appeal where X% is overturned. Push them to become involved. Just make as loud a noise as possible with it.

It’s not “supposed to cover the extra cost” though, is it? It’s supposed to help.

Frankly I think that only the terminally hard of thinking believe that a completely level playing field can be expected or that anything close can be achieved with cash alone. Realistically no amount of money is going to give a severely disabled child the same life outcomes as a non-disabled one and there is not - sadly - that amount of money in State coffers for each child that needs it. To suggest that achieving that outcome is the personal responsibility of the professionals that deal with children in their professional life is nonsense, and offensive nonsense at that

Those are just referrals. Very different to the sort of letter the OP is asking for, collating and setting out evidence.

Yes, it's standard. Your GP is giving a professional opinion. Like all professionals they want to be paid for doing so.

No helpful advice but sympathy here @GPlettercharge.

It’s taken months to get a blue badge for an elderly relative who can barely walk from one room to another even with a walking frame now. Apparently a GP letter wasn’t enough and we had to get a letter from an occupational therapist (and pay for it).

I appreciate they don’t want a free for all, but it shouldn’t be this hard! Particularly when most places I go seem to have lots and lots of empty disabled spaces currently unused. I now wonder how many of them could be used by people like my relative who instead has just ended up barely going anywhere.

Yes it is standard for GPs to charge for letters which fall outside of their GP contract. They are a private business so obviously charge for their services. I don't think I ever asked the GP to write a letter of that nature for my DD - I always asked her paediatrician as they generally don't have a mechanism for private charging and were usually willing to write letters of support - although for Blue Badge application I just submitted diagnosis letters and contact details for SN School.

I did once ask the GP for a letter relating to a financial issue for which there was a charge.

You get that GP surgeries are private businesses, right? GPs are private operators who are contracted by the NHS to provide NHS services. While they are being paid by the NHS, they cannot do non-NHS work.

The NHS doesn’t contract or pay GPs to provide supporting evidence letters, so you seem to believe that these highly qualified professionals should be using their own time, unpaid, to draft the hundreds of evidence letters they are asked to provide every week. Would you be willing to work for free? If not, why do you expect GPs to?

Some empathy wouldn't go astray with some of these posts. It is the fact that GPs are private contractors and the NHS is shockingly disjointed and unfit for purpose that is the issue, not someone trying to do the best for their child. In an ideal world, all services would be joined up and it would be an administrator's job to ensure that everything admin-related to do with care was done, like making follow-up appointments, issuing meeting notes, following up to ensure referrals to other departments are actioned, writing letters to support EHCPs and Blue Badge applications etc. A lot of small things should be automatic. In this ideal world people would actually get the care they need as well, like speech and language therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy. As the OP has pointed out, DLA often doesn't even touch the sides of what is needed, let alone address the additional financial, physical and emotional issues parents who are also carers face.

If the State wishes to strip disabled people of every last shred of the pitifully small financial support available, then they should put in place the mechanisms to help people get the most out of life which, in turns, means they are able to contribute more.

Christ - can you back off the OP

PIP/DLA is not a lot of money, and the people that receive it, and their carers, are more likely to be on a lower income as they cannot work as many hours, or certain jobs for various reasons. Its not unreasonable to expect a GP to write a letter as part of their service.

Back off!

That's voluntary.

Something that you chose to do that you get some emotional or social reward for and have the spare time to do - otherwise you wouldn't be volunteering.

That's not at all the same as someone doing work for free outside of their employment contract when the fees charged go towards the running of the business.

I had to get a GP's letter to support my blue badge appeal. I was not charged for this - it may have been because it was a more straightforward case. I'm an adult though. Also had to have a letter from my specialist team for my condition, again provided without charge....
Do think you are suffering appalling treatment.....

Thank you for this reply, it’s made me cry.

I was beginning to think I was going mad on this page.

My GP is lovely and has been very helpful, I just (naively) assumed this service would be covered under the NHS.

Ive been put right and I certainly wouldn’t want GPs to be working out of hours for nothing to do this work. I (wrongly according to others) feel that the contract should cover this sort of thing.

Thanks for doing what I’m sure is a very difficult and stressful job.

To all the others on this thread who have been so unnecessarily nasty, I hope it’s made you feel good about yourselves.

And I hope none of you have to deal with disabilities for yourself or those you love.

How are you after your empathy bypass? Making a good recovery?

Perhaps you should be made to walk a mile in OP'S shoes.

The PP I replied to stated: How many of them on here would do something for nothing that impacts on their family life? I bet none!

I answered that. And my GP VOLUNTARILY waived their charge. And have done so on multiple occasions. Which is the point of this thread.

I am not arguing that I think they should HAVE to or that where they charge it is wrong, I have simply pointed out that GPs have discretion as to when/whom they charge for a service and I am lucky enough to GPs who CHOOSE not to charge for a lot of stuff for my kids when it has been to do with their disabilities. That’s the GPs’ right, too. They don’t take their instruction from moral crusaders on MN.

No point getting your knickers in a twist with me over an educated professional’s personal choices. I didn’t ASK them to waive their fee.

It doesn’t really work like that. Unfortunately things like choosing to fly on a plane to go on holiday and needing a letter to fly isn’t a ‘medical need’ / your GP isn’t recommending you go to Spain are they? or getting yourself life insurance and needing a GP sign off isn’t a ‘medical need’ it’s financial for your mortgage.

the NHS was never intended to do all that extra work. It’s not intended to do the work of others to make your life easier or cheaper.

I do think a lot of GP’s will waive a fee for a child or special circumstances and I do appreciate the OP feeling upset by it

but then other people have come and shown their entitlement and why there are fees. Why should you get 30 mins of free NHS time for your mortgage insurance form to be filled out when there are other patients with actual illnesses who need an appointment? This is why it’s not NHS work

Surely you know that the state (taxpayers) pay 600K per qualification (training) per one GP? Surely you know medical degrees are insanely subsidised and whatever medical students pay, does not begin to scratch the surface of the real cost borne by teh society? Surely they should show some elementary shame and not charge a disabled person for a letter that their secretary would type in 2 minutes, using a template? And the same secretary (salaried, harassed) would attach a facsimile of the doctor's signature?

Depends entirely on your GP surgery
My current surgery does not charge for things like that (not even for fit notes) but a sign at reception says they may charge for insurance claim letters
My previous surgery charged for just about everything, including taking prescriptions to the local pharmacy (in the days before EPS)

I agree it’s really hard but cannot be amended as much of the form filling isn’t children needing badges (as this is now free via the council) it’s people with insurance forms, who can afford the insurance product therefore need to pay the fee, or parents who want to take their DC on a trip

I’m sorry, but I disagree that anyone has been nasty; they have presented a different point of view robustly, but that’s not “nasty”. You’ve accused other poster’s of lacking empathy for your struggle but my exasperation is because I’m struggling too, in no small part because of all the additional stuff I do for free and the guilt engendered by the abuse when I don’t do things for free. So I think there may be a lack of empathy, or at least understanding, in your initial stance too.

I do think it is a problem that so many people feel that things like this (the letter) should be provided by the State. The welfare state - without any concerted effort or design - has changed completely from what it was intended to be initially. There’s no problem with change but there’s no consensus on what should be covered - which is problematic. Also it has encouraged many of us to stop seeing dealing with our unique circumstances as our, or even primarily our, own responsibility. And the main problem with that is when that falls outside what the State will do, we get cross because we think someone else should sort it (Dr, lawyer, lady at the LA etc) and we lack the ability to deal with it (not saying you specifically do, people in general) or the mindset not to be put out by it. Which makes it harder again.

None of this is your fault of course, and may well not apply to you - I imagine in your circumstances you have had to develop great resilience to support your child. But it is a general problem and it seems like your issue is with the allocation of finite resources - which is not really anyone’s fault and something (else) you have to deal with. But I echo what someone up thread has said - who else should have to deal with it?