To think GPs shouldn’t charge for these letters?

[Lostare]

Flying soon (cheap flights and staying with family). I take injectable medication bi-weekly an autoimmune condition. I will be due to take this when I’m away.
I asked my GP for a letter confirming it’s prescribed medication so I can take it through the airport and they’ve requested £55 to give me this.
AIBU to think this is a ridiculous amount? I’m now stuck between not paying it and leaving my medicine at home, risking my condition flaring up, vs paying it and losing half my budget for my holiday!
is this a usual amount?

Hi OP who supplies your injections ?

when we fly with daughter she has quite a lot of injections and IV mediations. We always need to take a letter and it is supplied by bupa who deliver her medications for free. They will even deliver her supplies to the airport !!!!

You are certainly not unreasonable.
But GPs are independent small businesses, contracted to provide certain services to the NHS. Writing this type of letter is not one of the contracted services so they can charge whatever they choose. As my father used to say if you want a doctor to do something, write the request on the back of a cheque.
Would a copy of your repeat prescription and the pharmacy label on the medication not suffice?

It’s an extra for the individual GP, not the NHS surgery. They can charge whatever they choose.

I agree. Most people are completely oblivious to the cost of healthcare in the UK. Even private healthcare doesn’t truely reflect the cost as it uses the NHS as its safety backup for ICU. But if you do go private then a consultation generally works out over £200 per hour, often a lot more.

So a GP reading up your request, reading your notes to check the prescription (at which point they have acquired some responsibility for it and indemnity insurance would come into play and they would need to make a professional judgement about it especially if prescribed elsewhere), typing it up or having it typed up by a member of clerical staff they pay, posting it or contacting you to tell you to collect it, and raising an invoice, makes £55 seem cheap.

How entitled and cheap of you. Clearly, the GPs in your surgery are far nicer and more generous than you are.

The letter was asking for debt forgiveness due to poverty arising from poor mental wellbeing due to domestic abuse. I said it's ironic to make me pay, please don't. I didn't have the money, ironically.

I usually just take a copy of my prescription and my original letter from my consultant diagnosing me/saying I should use this medication.

I get that it’s annoying but the GPs and staff are already very strained and reviewing this/sorting out the letter will take time out of their day.

That's not exactly the impression you gave in your initial post is it! It was very decent of them not to charge you and GP certainly do show discretion if they know that patients are genuinely struggling, which you were.

£55 for a short letter is crazy.

I’ve just read back their response and noticed they say at the end ‘please allow 30 days for the letter to be processed following receipt of payment’ which has actually infuriated me further… £55 for 5 minutes work that they have 30 days to complete? In what other industry would this be accepted as reasonable? Even if they weren’t planning to just print of the prescription, they should just be able to log on and see the medication and type the words ‘I can confirm X is prescribed X’
But good alternatives to the GP listed on this thread so thank you so much to those who gave advice!

You could always request a copy of the letter from the hospital informing the GP of the prescription. That would be free (it is a Subject Access Request) and takes up to a month.

That's just your opinion. Other professionals charge much higher fees and they are entitled to do so. You should be grateful that you were not charged by the GP.

Strangely the staff in a GP practice have got more important jobs to do than to help your holiday planning!

GPs are their for your health, not to facilitate your holidays (or anything else for that matter), so they’re fully entitled to charge for letters & anything else outside of the health remit. The entitlement shown by the Op is staggering.

I personally don’t think so. There’s more than “just a short letter” that goes into it in the background.

I’m feeling quite angry at this point so I’m going to hide the thread. Yes there are plenty of industries where ‘5 minutes work’ (it isn’t) will cost a lot more than £55.

Yes, so many people who think they know what other people's job as businesses involve.

I think it’s baffling. I’m travelling to see family anyway, not going on a proper holiday. My flights cost £60 all in and accommodations free.
It’s not disrespect to GPs, I’d be equally baffled if it was the council asking for £55 for a copy of my council tax bill, or the school if I asked for a copy of a school report.
I think these are probably the same people who think we should be greatful for 18 hour waits in A&E, or 3 year waiting lists for surgeries. We do still pay for the NHS, the fact it’s not enough is another story. All of my family are on private healthcare, I was quoted hundreds a month due to my conditions so I’m not.
We sacrafise most things so my kids will never have to experience the shit that I have, being under the NHS with a Chronic condition. If people genuinely believe my GP surgery can’t see that im on biological medication in under 5 minutes, that signals a far worse and dangerous issue in the system. But given everytime I try to access help there, they tell me I’m too complex to give advice on so go to A&E within the first 30 seconds, I’d assume they actually can.
This is the icing on a very shit cake. But yes I’m clearly entitled!

Laughing at the idea it would take five minutes.

This is so disingenuous. How is a GP providing a private service the same as a council sending you a bill which you are required to pay or the school sending a parent a report for your own child? Surely you are intelligent enough to understand that these are ridiculous comparisons. A reasonable comparison would be to complain about a lawyer charging £100 to certify a document, ie a private service provided by a professional. This is nothing to do with whether the GP can see your medication on your records. For the umpteenth time, it is about a professional charging for a service. If your family are well off enough to pay for private healthcare, I'm sure you can easily afford the £55 charge. Yes, you are entitled.

You are asking a clinician who has not prescribed you the medication to provide proof it is prescribed for you. You have not asked the prescriber as you say that is too difficult. If it was just as simple as a copy letter or prescription I would have sympathy for you.

You want the GP to do all the donkey work in getting proof of something they did not do and taking the associated clincial risks in undertaking private work for your holiday - and you do not see that you are being totally unreasonable in suggesting their private time is not as valuable.

Quite disgusting aren't you, really.

Proof of prescription is perfectly fine! I don’t need a long letter. As we’ve established.

I agree @rainingsnoring& this thread feels exactly what is wrong with society & the NHS today - everyone is so entitled to get stuff for free & will argue until they’re blue in the face & threaten a (very expensive!) SAR to get what they want for free rather than pay the fully justified charge requested.

I have tried the consultant (well their secretary), twice. I’ve also called the nurses, twice. No one responds to you. In the NHS it seems perfectly acceptable to ignore people.
I will ask the prescription delivery company as suggested and ask the receptionist if she can print out a summary. So I have a route to try thanks to those who gave useful advice!

Cant your pharmacist write a short note saying they dispense the prescribed medication for you?