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?

So this sounds just like Mounjaro/wegovy? Have travelled with that many times without a letter (though the prescribers are usually happy to email a proforma letter at no charge). No one has ever asked to see the letter in the last 2-3 years when I’ve travelled in Europe.

@Lostare Contact the provider that sends it out to you. Use the option that's urgent, eg, running out, so they answer the call.
Explain the situation, and any urgency, eg, if youre flying soon, and ask for a letter confirming dosage and name of meds, etc, and any relevant info eg, if it can't go through xray machines.
I had to do this a few years ago and it took abt 2 weeks to get the letter, but it was free, and I now just keep it with my travel cool bag ready for the next trip.

Good luck

a consultant’s secretary is easy to reach, they can sort out a letter for you

GP don't like to write letter for patients. The service I work for will provide letter like this for free. Can you approach your secondary care team?

There is no earthly reason why it needs to take up GP time. It's 2025, this kind of standard form letter or prescription list should be downloadable from records using any modern business system.

Of course that would require willingness to use modern business systems, not a strength in our healthcare systems.

No, I think GPs should charge for this kind of thing.
The NHS is on its knees and people are always commenting that fat people shouldn't get treatment, and neither should smokers, or alcoholics.
We shouldn't be able to request a GP spend time on these sorts of letters without payment to it for the NHS.

I always used to get a copy of my prescription along with my injections from the hospital pharmacy, but they have gone to a completely paperless system now. I just get a bag of injections with sticky labels on them. No prescription.
I can print a copy of my consultant's letter from the app (not my nhs app, that doesn't have access to hospital letters) but from the Trust's own app and hope that is sufficient. I never bothered before when I got the prescrition sheet.
There seems to be so much variation between Post codes/ Trusts/ GPs it is no wonder people get stressed.
Just as an aside, I attend the eye clinic in the same Trust. Their computer system is completely separate from the rest of the Trust and they almost never send a clinic letter to me or the gp. I am going to have a hell of a job renewing my driving licence next year.

I do understand your irritation about this, but you only need this because you are travelling/ going on holiday. So I feel it’s right you bear that cost. The alternative is not free, it's only free to you! Tax payers actually pay for it in that scenario. If a GP is doing this within the NHS contract then that displaces, frankly, needed proper care for patients. That is much more important and a priority as I see for my taxes paid.

My GP doesn’t… the receptionist tries. GP writes “no charge” on anything we need.

I had to get a letter to take opiate painkillers to Turkey (as well as taking a hard copy of the prescription). My GP charged £20 which seemed a reasonable amount. However, from my job, I know GP’s can set their own fees for letters outside NHS work so I think you’re stuck with the charge.

DH has a weekly injection for rheumatoid arthritis that’s delivered from an external company and needs to be kept in the fridge. We have travelled many times with it in an ice travel pack but have never been questioned.

When we went to Australia the cabin staff offered to keep it in the plane’s fridge on each flight until we landed.

I think you should be fine but for peace of mind could you carry a letter from consultant, or something from nhs app which lists your medication?

It’s the needles you need a letter for. I need one when flying.

No it sounds like meds for an autoimmune disease or other disease to me. I take them and need a letter.

I was told by the rheumatology department that the external company can do these sort of letters for you.

The national health service doesn't cover providing you with travel letters. You're either saying your GP should work for free or the collective pot should fund you commissioning letters to airlines. Fuck that.

Jeeze who rattled your cage? The OP is not expecting the doctor to do it in their own time!

That's exactly what OP is asking actually because the gp is only contracted and therefore paid for doing certain things, writing letters for peoples holidays is not one of those things so therefore it does come out of the gps time.

My GP tried to charge my Ausitic Ds (19) £90 for a letter confirming he was ill to his College (who required GP only letter). He was in Heart Failure at the time.

I typed up a basic 'to whom it may concern, siliconcover's Ds was in hospital on high needs ward with LVSD Heart Failure dates x to y. He now needs time to recover'. I took it to Reception at HN ward and asked if anyone would sign it for him without charging him £90. They kindly did. GP is awful in many other ways.

Good luck with your meds.

Presumably this is something like infliximab. It should be listed on all your letters from the treating department.

I would contact the nurse helpline and ask for a letter. It’s a very common request, particularly at this time of year.

No one is forcing you to go on holidays so why should the gp (who has literally nothing to do with this medication write you a letter for free?

Honestly OP get over yourself, you have a medical condition and so do lots of people. You get an expensive medication, consultant treatment, blood tests etc for free and you're moaning about a letter so you can go on holidays

I agree.

Although apparently we now have to pay for self-service too! Not in the NHS but I was looking at my car insurance renewal the other day and it said that if you make any changes (during the term) using the self service option online, there's a charge of £19. What a rip-off. If you phone and ask them to do it, there's some justification but if you do it yourself?

So I imagine that if you printed it off the NHS app they'd find a way to charge you too.

My G.P told me the fee goes to pay the admin staff for their time typing it up and sorting it out.
The NHS is busy enough without sorting out the holiday/work/insurance/DWP/passport requests they get, they need to charge for it.

Some people really hate ill people, I didn’t choose it you know. And I pay enough tax to realise that my care is most certainly not free.
When I get any other medication, even my pill which I’m not charged for, I get a prescription note with it, it shows on my app. This tells me it’s not £55 every time the GP sends a prescription note out, so why they want to charge that much for this is baffling.
I have asked the company who delivers it if they can help.
I’ve also worked in public services long enough to know I could just make a SAR, and it would take the GP far longer and they have to provide it for free. I’m not petty so I won’t, but it just highlights the stupidity of the system.

I don't think they are ignoring it or not agreeing. I think they just didn't know (and haven't bothered to read the OP's updates).

@Lostare I am following with interest as DD has just been diagnosed with IBD, not confirmed as crohns yet, but suspected (3 month wait between colonoscopy and appointment with the consultant 😒), and if she needs medication that doesn't show as an NHS prescription I will remind her to get a GP letter in case she needs it.

To me it's a no brainer. I would rather have less money for my visit than risk a flare up. Good luck, and have a lovely holiday.

If its busy manually producing form letters then its because of a failure of the NHS to modernise. Any large organisation and many SMEs have all this stuff automated and in an organisation with the procurement power of the NHS there is no excuse for wasting time and money on antiquated processes.