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?

Disregarding the amount, which may be on the steep side, do you think that all letters required for holidays etc. should be free or a minimal charge of say £5? If so that means that everyone who pays tax and/or national insurance would foot the bill, even if they cannot afford to go on holiday themselves?

Yep. And I'm happy to pay for a private service but when I do, I expect private service standards. Not, it's not ready, come back later, when I arrive at the time I've been told to come, followed by a refusal to put a stamp on an envelope, when they, not me, have been inefficient.

Don't be ridiculous, OP. It's not really a GP's job to do these letters, but still they do them - to help their patients. Imagine how many requests they get a week and how much time that takes! Frankly, £55 is a bargain and if you really can't afford that, then you should really be questioning whether you can afford a foreign holiday.

But you can get a free letter or copy if you actually go to either your consultant that originally put you on it or the company that you get it delivered from. I dont see what the issue is with that. Your GP has nothing to do with this particular prescription so will of course charge for the time it takes to confirm everything and writing the letter. They can't just take your word for it. Either the GP or their support staff would have to do the legwork to confirm. While they are doing that they are not doing NHS work that they are contracted for. Why do you think that you should not have to pay for a private service? It dosent matter if it is the GP or their admin staff it is still time taken from the NHS contact and needs to be paid for somehow.
Consultants have secretaries that you can phone and request this kind of thing via as well. You should be able to find contact details for your consultant's secretary easily by googling.

SAR to the GP wouldn’t solve your issue either.

As you’ve said, it’s not GP prescribed and the records access would just get you what you’re getting through the app and the letter you’ve already got with the reference to it.

It sounds like a fair reflection of what the cost is to the GP practise to do the letter. It’s not covered by their NHS contract so needs billing separately and it’s less than a private GP appointment would be. Compare the time and qualifications and overheads for the business to a set of gel nails.

The service that sends it to you probably handle the prescriptions, so they should be able to give you something suitable. Or the prescriber (which isn’t your GP).

There’s a common misconception that GPs are there to provide general frontline contact for health services stuff. That’s not the case. They have a contract with the NHS to provide a specific set of services to their patient list. Stuff outside of that they don’t get paid for. Letters about medications provided by others, unsurprisingly, isn’t in their contract arrangements.

GP are a private for profit business, yes they’ll charge for a letter. Same as a Solicitor will charge for a letter.
Its not just a letter.GP need to access your notes, check meds, dose,frequency produce letter and upload it and get copy sent to you In a set timeframe so you have it preflight

Which is an entirely separate point. The comparison to solicitors was actually very apt.

£55 is really not high. In the 90s I was a medical Secretary for GPs and they charged £30 per letter.
It does take time to dictate, type, print and check a letter. A GP will earn around £50 per hour, plus the secretary's salary. Other overheads make the cost much more.
This is for a holiday, not a medical necessity so why should the struggling NHS provide this free.

Sadly the time for free NHS should be coming to an end. Not sure what costs are involved with the writing a letter but although it seems high once you factor their time as well it seems reasonable

GP surgery are private for profit business they are not the struggling NHS

It isn't a controlled drug in legal terms but strictly monitored because of its potential dangers.

Well, yes they are really. The GP is contracted to work for the NHS for a set number of hours per week. Anything that is not covered under those contracted NHS hours such as writing letters for something that is nothing to do with the GP practice has to be paid for somehow. If the GP is doing this at the end of the day after fulfilling that days NHS contracted hours then of course they are doing it in their own time and should be able to charge accordingly.
It's no different to you working say 9 to 5 and at 4.58 you are asked to do a task that will take 30 minutes. Thats your own time that you would be using to do that.

I’ve had to have a GP letter and whilst annoying to have to pay you just have to factor it into the cost of the holiday.

I agree GPs should charge as not part of their day to day job and although people think it is just a couple of lines of letter and shouldn’t cost there’s more behind the scenes than a secretary cutting and pasting.

In my experience hospital consultants also can send these letters. But again they have limited time during their day for admin and this is not a life or death situation.

My opinion is it I pay the £55. When you think it would take 1/2 hour work (checking case notes, typing, printing etc) I don’t think it’s bad. You would pay that happily for a plumber to come out 🤷‍♀️

Just carry your repeat prescription request form with you! I’ve never had to declare and medication when flying!

Your GP is a professional person being asked for a professional written confirmation/opinion.
Of course they will charge for this.

I doubt you will need a letter.
£55 is hefty, a charge of £20 maybe.

Because they are doing that in NHS time which they are contracted to do and are obligated to provide certain things.
Tbey are not obligated to write letters for something that they have no part of so they charge accordingly. They will have a private hourly rate and probably charge at 15 minute blocks so if it takes 5 minutes then you pay for 1 block, if it takes 17 minutes you pay for 2 blocks. That is how private business operates.
Nobody here has said they hate ill people or even given any slight indication that is the case. They just recognise that the NHS can only give so much. It's not as if your only option to get the information is via your GP. If that was the case you would be right to be angry about it but thats not the case as several people have already told you. Either contact your consultants secretary or contact the company that delivers it to you.

I do sympathise with the situation you are in but think you are blaming the wrong service. You should have a record of everything you are prescribed but this should be for the prescriber to supply so the consultant or hospital department not the GP. It also highlights a problem that if this isn’t in your record and you are admitted as an emergency whoever deals with you won’t have complete information. Do you have time before you travel to email the department and point out that nothing on your records shows this and ask for that to be rectified and you given a note if this will not show on your NHS app in time?
Hope you can get it sorted in time, the stress will not be helping your condition.

I take a biological treatment injection every 4 weeks that’s delivered every few months. It’s prescribed by my consultant not my gp. But it’s still on my list of prescribed meds. Ask your doctors receptionist to print you out a list of your current medications. It should be free. I wasn’t actually asked for it but had it in case.
But I agree they shouldn’t charge £55 or the airlines shouldn’t require it.

It's a very good comparison, you couldnt actually get a much better comparison to be honest. Many lawyers will provide legal aid work which is funded by the government alongside their private work. This is done to a strict criteria. Anything that does not come under legal aid will not qualify for legal aid funding. Private work will be charged according. Our lawyer charges in 5 minute blocks and all postage is detailed on their invoice on top of this. The hourly rate is for their expertise not for buying stamps.

Not necessarily. I have an injectable drug for rheumatoid arthritis. It's not prescribed by the GP I get supplies from the hospital and you don't get a copy of the prescription. Nor does it show up on the NHS app.
I think it's the fact it's a needle rather than the content of the drug. My rheumatology nurse will arrange for a letter free.
Tbh I'm happy to pay as I don't expect the NHS to pay for everything.
If you can't get your consultant OP just ask their secretary.

This is what I do too and mine's a controlled substance.

Just looking at my son’s app for keeping track of his Amgevita syringes, it only ever says his prescription is ready, but there’s no copy of the prescription itself. It would be so handy to have this. Might just leave some feedback about it, as we’re in the same boat as you, having no evidence of his prescription anywhere, written or digital.

Edited to add there is no pharmacy sticker on it either.

I do don't automatically get a copy of my prescription but if I ask for it they can print it.

This discussion has shown people don't have an understanding of the NHS and the fact that the 'NHS' doesn't exist - it's a hodge podge of private suppliers, trusts, departments, bodies, consultants and GP businesses. There isn't one central computer system where the receptionist can just press print and hey presto a tailored letter pops out. When the government proposes that people get outraged (because it would involve sharing medical data across lots of private and public organisations). The OPs GP doesn't prescribe this, a consultant does, there's no NHS app record for whatever reason and it's delivered by a private business.

This is why it costs £55 and it's reasonable for the GP to charge it. It's not an essential funded service and most of us would object in the strongest terms to our health service providing holiday admin - £55 wouldn't pay to park your car for a weekend at an airport. It's a drop in the ocean compared to the average cost of a holiday.

The balkanisation of our health service is the worst output of the PPI model and it would be much cheaper to supply a letter if we had one central NHS that managed GP services but it still should not be free.