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?

It sounds like you need the letter so you will probably have to suck it up, unless you have a hospital letter stating why you need the medication. But yes that is quite expensive. DC2 recently had to pay for a GP letter and it was £40.

The original letter mentioning that you’ve moved to an injectable sounds completely fine.

Can you imagine if every single person on prescription who was going on holiday asked for this. It would use up so much of their precious time. You don’t need a letter (as others have said) just take your prescription.

The charge is because it’s work outside of the NHS and probably to stop everyone asking just for the hell of it.

It’s not a “simple letter” though it takes time for them to get the records up find the right bit sort the letter etc etc. If they did them all for free they would have no time for actual GP work!

I imagine judging by most comments on here that most people do get a prescription with their medication so it’s quite unusual to be on one like this. I have prescription letters for the other 3 medications I take daily and they’re on my nhs app, so I can easily provide those. So no I don’t think it’s a case of needing to provide one for everyone and it taking so much of their time.
As a side note, I do think there should be some sort of record somewhere accessible by me that states that I’m injecting myself every 2 weeks with something medical professionals have told me I need, anyway.
Thanks for the helpful comments! Will contact healthcare homenet who deliver for me.

Sounds like my medication for RA which is outsourced to a private contractor

i have 2 different injectables supplied by 2 different private contractors and neither are on my NHS app

Can you not just ask for a copy of your prescription? That should be free.

Sounds like my RA medication which is delivered by a private contractor. Not on the NHS app and no prescription either!

Would you say that about a lawyer’s letter too? Or willingly pay £200. GPs are massively undervalued in this country. They are professionals and can charge for their free time like any other profession would.

Mine is Healthnet homecare too, they’ve been great for me.

For those saying that they just carry it with no problems, I think the difference is the need for an ice pack. I’ve had difficulty carrying injections with an ice pack before - some airports get twitchy as they are “frozen liquid”. (Whereas when travelling with injections that can be kept at room temperature I just put them in my liquids bag in hand luggage with no problem.)

OP, I got a letter from the specialist nurses in my hospital department. They have a standard “to whom it may concern” one that mentions the need for ice packs and they emailed it to me to print out. I’ve not had any problems when using the letter. Quite often staff at the security scanner want the medicines to go through separately from the rest of your things. I usually have more than one copy of the letter now because once I got held up for ages while they looked at the ice packs on the scanner and wanted the letter as well. I then got the medicines back but not the letter and didn’t realise this until I needed it again at security for a connecting flight!

You could ask for copies of hospital letters, which presumably state you use the drug.

We use Frío pouches for insulin.

We don’t have the national lawyer service so it’s not comparable. I do value GPs but (for now) it’s a public service, paid for by tax and understood as a necessity and importance. If my child’s teacher asked for £55 for a letter about her education, I’d be outraged too. Yet I value both their professions immensely.

A GP's job is to help you manage your health, not to facilitate your holiday. The time spent writing that letter ould have been used to give another sick person the appointment they are waiting for. Of course you should pay. But do check if it's necessary. For most medicines and most countries, the label on the box showing it is prescribed to you, and a copy of the prescription (screengrab of the relevant screen in the NHS app if you are paperless) is all you need. If the medicine is an illegal drug in the country you are visiting that might require more.

But what letter would you need?

this isn’t an NHS service - it’s to enable you to go on holiday. It’s a private service. Imagine how many requests they get a week? It would take up all their time! My dad’s GP charged £160 for a medical certificate for an insurance claim. It’s just how it goes

Op if you would feel better having a letter, then just consider it part of the cost of travel. 🤷‍♀️

OP I work as a GP Secretary too. I think everything I wanted to say has been covered, for the record we do get lots of these requests weekly and they are time consuming. We charge £35 per private letter.

What I wanted to say is ask for a summary printout from your practice. It can be done by Reception and takes around a minute to do there and then. I always advise patients to do this and I stamp it for them, it’s free, it lists all prescriptions on your records and I’ve never had any comeback that it was not accepted.

Of course GPs should charge for non NHS work. It's not an unreasonable amount either. I paid £155 for a health declaration form. Time is expensive. It's the cost of going away, the NHS isn't there to facilitate holidays.

I presume this is because GPs get so many requests. As a hospital consultant, if my patients require a letter about something, I just do it and we don’t charge anything. Hospitals are a different set up though to GP practices.

Frio pouches are not suitable for (some) biologics. Hence the need for ice packs, and the reason the prescribing department have a standard letter…😊

I travelled with prefilled pens and wrapped them in tin foil with an icepack in my luggage. They went into the hold, which is cold but does not freeze so I didn't have to provide anything!

@TheWickerWoman would this print out list medication that isn’t listed under prescriptions on the NHS app and that I don’t have a copy of a prescription for? Theres 62 prescriptions showing in the app, including amoxicillin i was prescribed in 1998, but not the medicine I inject myself with twice weekly! If so, I will try that too, thank you.

Writing a letter for your holiday is not NHS work.
You are not entitled to it for free on the NHS.
It is comparable to other private services. Pretty sure hair cuts, nails, eyelashes, gym etc all cost same if not more.
Stop getting on your high horse and either pay your GP (who hasn't even prescribed it first you!) Or spend your time contacting the consultant rather than complaining that a GP will charge even though it's easier for you to get a hold of them.

Your letter takes them away from doing actual NHS funded work. Pay or go to your consultant.

This is non-NHS work, so it's reasonable to charge for it. GPs get paid by the NHS for contracted work.

You can get copies of your clinical letters for free, presumably your consultant writes to your GP confirming what they're prescribing. In this case I'd just ask for that. Your consultant is likely to charge for a specific letter too.

If you want a specific "to whom it may concern" letter written describing your meds etc, how much do you think it ought to cost?

I do private work and bill in 30 minute chunks of time. I then pay my secretary for the admin out of what I bill. I recently needed a 2 line solicitor's letter and got charged £110. I felt that was very reasonable for her time and expertise.