Page 6 | Doctor was £25 cash for doing my fit to fly note

PinkBump2022 · 2022-08-03T10:20:14+00:00

I’m going on holiday and since im passed 26 weeks I was told I need a fit to fly note. The dr said she will do this but wants £25 cash in exchange for the note. is this normal to charge cash? I’m with the NHS in the uk and we never have to pay for things

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LindaEllen · 04/08/2022 10:55

RavenPaws · 03/08/2022 11:27

Dh is a solicitor and gets paid £5 in cash for each passport photo he signs.

It's normal

Well that's awful, because to sign a passport photo you're supposed to know the person well enough to recognise them by name in the street, so either he's lying about being that close to them, or he's charging friends and family for a simple signature. Either is bad.

lucylooareyou · 04/08/2022 11:02

PermanentTemporary · 04/08/2022 10:51

Jesus Christ @lucylooareyou that was a moment of bullying from you that I hope you don't normally do. And if you'd needed to use your travel insurance I'd guess that letter would potentially have invalidated the insurance and you'd have been in the hole for the bills. Or the midwife would have been - she risked her entire professional status and ability to practice.

I'm going to have a look at airline websites now to see what they are encouraging their customers to do.

eh?

Fail to see how any of my post could remotely class as bullying?!

I printed off the letter, i took it to my midwife appointment and after all obvs/normal appointment things were done that raised no issues, asked if she minded signing my 'fit 2 fly' letter - she said yes no problem, Job done.

I'm not sure why you thought at any point i would be able to 'bully' a medical professional into signing her name on something that she did not want/feel comfortable in signing. If her professional medical opinion was that i was not suitable to fly due to high risk then i imagine she would have refused.

The reason i took it to my midwife appointment is because no-one could give me clarity on who was actually suppose to be signing it. I took it by chance to my midwife appointment and she agreed.

My travel insurance is irrelevant and not reliant upon obtaining any 'fit 2 fly' letter.

liveforsummer · 04/08/2022 11:25

@lucylooareyou maybe because she's already - correctly - explained that it was the GP's area to sign fit to flys ?

lucylooareyou · 04/08/2022 12:56

liveforsummer · 04/08/2022 11:25

@lucylooareyou maybe because she's already - correctly - explained that it was the GP's area to sign fit to flys ?

I have never seen the same midwife twice, the midwife that agreed to sign was a different midwife than the one I had asked a few weeks prior.
with the GP refusing (receptions said about paying, but also said he may not sign because he hasn’t seen me at all in my pregnancy) I was going round in circles.

passport123 · 05/08/2022 07:22

Tinadecember · 03/08/2022 14:39

blows my mind how this is a chargeable service. If you are less than 36 weeks with a single pregnancy and not deemed high risk then it's a 2 minute job. Most airlines have a template that you can fill in yourself and it simply requires a signature from a GP.

£25 for a signature??

I have just flew and Ryanair didn't ask either way to see a fit to fly note despite having a template on their website to be completed.

Out of interest, how much would you expect a solicitor to charge for 'just a signature'. It's a signature that relies on years of training and can carry a significant legal risk....

If you can't afford the note, you can't afford the holiday

passport123 · 05/08/2022 07:23

lucylooareyou · 04/08/2022 11:02

eh?

Fail to see how any of my post could remotely class as bullying?!

I printed off the letter, i took it to my midwife appointment and after all obvs/normal appointment things were done that raised no issues, asked if she minded signing my 'fit 2 fly' letter - she said yes no problem, Job done.

I'm not sure why you thought at any point i would be able to 'bully' a medical professional into signing her name on something that she did not want/feel comfortable in signing. If her professional medical opinion was that i was not suitable to fly due to high risk then i imagine she would have refused.

The reason i took it to my midwife appointment is because no-one could give me clarity on who was actually suppose to be signing it. I took it by chance to my midwife appointment and she agreed.

My travel insurance is irrelevant and not reliant upon obtaining any 'fit 2 fly' letter.

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If the form included the words 'fit to fly' your MW is naive.
She/he will discover that if any of the patients for whom she has signed go into labour on their flight and the airline come after her for the cost of diversion - which is what these notes are all about.

goldfinchonthelawn · 05/08/2022 07:32

Maybe cash because bank transfers involve giving out personal details. Cheques are a time consuming pain in the neck to process these days and most doctors don't have devices to tap the pay into as their job rarely demands it. i doubt the GP is doing this for tax evasion!

passport123 · 05/08/2022 08:01

I take cash in for these types of forms. I declare it all at the end of the tax year. We don't have a credit card machine.

baky · 05/08/2022 10:15

I'm a doctor and when I was pregnant I had to pay 20 for a fit to fly note. It's standard.