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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be a tad pissed off with the GP for demanding £10 pound for a sick note for DD3 having swine flu<<argh>>!!

104 replies

psychomum5 · 21/10/2009 21:25

rant rant rant.

school and dancing reqire sick-note with regards to DD3 having swine flu. school because she is down to 80% attendance already this term due to this and also contracting norovirus 2wks back and having a week off.

dance school are asking as she was supposed to be doing dance exams on saturday and obviously can;t, and for me to get money back they need a note (completely reasonable).

what is not is that the GP said it it will cost £10 as she is a child not an employee, and besides, the governmnet has decreed that anyone suffering swine-flu should not need a note.................all another way of taxing us IMVHO as IME employers do still require sick-notes so they can pay sickpay properly.

tis soooooooooo not fair.

OP posts:
Ivykaty44 · 21/10/2009 23:42

It is the fact that they have you over a barrell - they know you need the note to show sickness - they know that you will have to pay.

I had to pay 50p to get cash back of £5 to get out of the hospital car park - it wasn't the amount it was the fact I have to pay I have no choice, I cant leave the car park without the money and I didn't know I was gona end up in a&e

Original poster
psychomum5 · 21/10/2009 23:44

oh I do know....when DD1 broke her elbow she was about to have exams and was told I needed note then. for some reason wasn;t charged for it then, but IIRC the hosp gave me one straight off (this was 4 or 5yrs back, I think rules have changed somewhat since then...)

OP posts:
Ivykaty44 · 21/10/2009 23:49

I think the hosptial are different. With the gp it is run by a practice manager and they set the fees - they also differ between practices.

Mine charge £70 for something for an aussie visitor needed and he went to the practice over the road and it was free - I think it was something simple can remember now but he was shocked

jasper · 21/10/2009 23:54

jybay , you said you get about 40 requests for this sort of thing in a week?

That's £400 a week on top of your income ? That's a lot of money . On that basis £10 seems very steep.

jasper · 21/10/2009 23:57

In our dental practice we sign all our patients ' passports without charging - the local GP charges £20

In the summer months it takes up quite a bit of time. I would not dream of charging them as most of them have not much money, and I have enough.

jasper · 21/10/2009 23:58

psychomum I think the dance school are being ridiculous.
I think your GP is being greedy to charge as much as £10

Original poster
psychomum5 · 22/10/2009 00:00

jasper, thankyou for being on my side with the AIBU, but this is ust not fair.

I want to stop at knowing I am, or not........keep changing my mind with different responses.

I am not acting in a proper MN manner am I....I am supposed to be getting all 'raghry' and argueing my point and getting stroppy aren't I.....

OP posts:
jasper · 22/10/2009 00:02

It is a ridiculous situation all round . As if you would PRETEND she has swine flu?
And why would the "evidence" you already have not be sufficient?

Original poster
psychomum5 · 22/10/2009 00:07

maybe letting her share it with them all would be evidence enough

OP posts:
jybay · 22/10/2009 00:08

Jasper - sorry if unclear, that figure is all certificates, not just private ones. We don't charge for the formal certificates for employers (Med 3s).

The fee is in part a deterrent though, because otherwise we would get completely overwhelmed with this sort of paperwork. You would be amazed who wants a note from their doctor and it is not as simple as "two minutes to write a note". Many of these requests could actually have major medico-legal implications for us - for example if we certify someone fit to use a gym or do Slimming World (common requests) and that person then suffers an injury or side effect. There is a lot more documentation and checking involved than you might imagine.

I make no apologies for using fees as a deterrent - we have to protect our time. Of the 40 certificates we are already doing every week, I'd say about 1/2 need appointments so tthat's over 3 hours of GP time per week as it is. We just do not have time to do more and, if we did not charge, there would be many many more.

jybay · 22/10/2009 00:18

PS Jasper, how many requests for notes from a dentist do you get per week?

GPs are not trying to make money out of these requests - if we were, we would probably lower the fees and encourage people to ask for certificates. The reason we charge a fairly high fee is to try to keep unnecessary paperwork at bay.

It is important to remember that GPs receive the same amount of money from the NHS no matter how often we see patients and no matter how much work we do for them. I seem to recall that the introduction of the 2006 dental contract, which pays dentists in a similar way, led to huge protests and thousands of you resigning. 95% of dentists said it was unfair. Even then, you are still better off than GPs as there is weighting in the contract for the complexity of the work you do. And that's assuming you work for NHS, not privately.

jasper · 22/10/2009 00:57

I am totally NHS, in SCOTLAND , different contract.

Thanks for explanation. I did not realise appointments were needed for these certificates and I completely understand the deterrent thing.

But £10 in the OP's situation still seems excessive.

Dentists don't get anything like the requests GPs do for this stuff. But we do get requests to verify passports ( up to 20 a week in the summer) and dental fitness certifications and requests to fill in forms to reclaim NHS costs from private insurance policies. We never ever charge , but as I said, our patients are poor.

qwertpoiuy · 22/10/2009 06:21

YABU. In Ireland we pay e50. I wish we only had to pay £10!

mummygirl · 22/10/2009 06:54

I don't think a tenner is that much.

When DD had serious health problems and out of desperation after hospitals and gp seemed clueless I took her to a peadiatrician privately, it cost me about 150, and it was worth every penny.

And when I lived in greece I dscovered the systme was different. You are obliged to have state insurance, in which yuo pay according to income. This is for healthcare, pension and benefits. You go to any doctor you choose (specialists included) pay for the visit, get a receipt and get the money back from my insurance. Never payed anything less than e50 for a visit.

Although in both of the above cases the appointments were hourly, I still see how 10pounds (where is my pound symbol? -stupid italian keyboard)is not that much.

On principle though, they should have to accept proof that is given to you for free. At least the school!

edam · 22/10/2009 09:21

£10 might be an awful lot of money to some people though. Could be the difference between being able to put money in the gas meter or not. Or mean you don't have enough for food that week.

Obv. if your child is doing dance exams, you probably aren't completely on the breadline, or you couldn't afford lessons/costumes but still, there are potentially parents who have to budget for every penny to allow their kids to take part.

saggarmakersbottomknocker · 22/10/2009 09:40

From a school POV I think they're being really unreasonable here Psycho. I usually advise parents to get an appointment card from the GPs receptionist; a copy of discharge letter would be more than fine.

The dance school is different I suppose - you'd need a proper cert for an exam at school too once at GCSE level.

Ivykaty44 · 22/10/2009 09:51

Perhaps if the school and the exam board had to pay for the certificate - they may think twice about having to pay each time.

In this country we are surely innocent until prroved that we are fibbing about an illness.

I have no problem with someone paying for medical treatment and gting insurance to pay for it, ir if you choose to pay for medical treatment yourself - but to expect people to pay for parts of the NHS when it is already taken from your NI contributions so therefore you have to pay twice.

islandofsodor · 22/10/2009 09:57

To be perfectly honest what I would do in your situation is just write the dance exam off and just go on to the next level. I had to do that many times myself as a child when I had asthma.

I doubt whether you would get the full exam fee back anyway. As I said before, it is usually a 50% credit towards a retake. Yo need to check.

sarah293 · 22/10/2009 09:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

mummygirl · 22/10/2009 09:59

edam, 10punds might be a lot of money to some people, I was only saying that it's not a lot of money for a docs appointment.

Again though, there should be another way around it, schools must know that GPs charge for sick notes and can't possibly expect parents to pay for these. Or expect GPs to write hundrends of sick notes for ill school children.

mummygirl · 22/10/2009 10:00

LOL Riven

jybay · 22/10/2009 10:58

"In this country we are surely innocent until prroved that we are fibbing about an illness."

Here here!

diddl · 22/10/2009 11:14

Well, I can see why the dance schoolwants "proof" as they willbe refunding money.

But the school?

Do they not believe you, then?

Doyou legally have to do it or can you tell them if they want proof, they can get it themselves?

TrillianSlasher · 22/10/2009 12:04

I think the school are only asking for proof once attaendance goes below a certain %, and it's the LEA who are asking for it really.

2rebecca · 22/10/2009 12:42

What are the school going to do if you don't give it though? I would have photocopied the discharge letter and given the copy to the school with a note saying that if they want a GPs note then you will request one when they give you the £10 to pay for it.

The dance exam board are a different matter, if they are willing to refund your money if you give a doctors note then it's up to you to get a note if it's financially worth your while. You aren't "paying twice" for this though as it has nothing to do with the NHS and is a private matter between your family and the dance board. Other tax payers should definitely not be funding this.