Camp America Medical Form - HELP GP Won't complete!

[LMLBEAR]

my daughter is off to CA this summer and needs her medicals filling in from her GP but its been 9 weeks now and they just keep giving excuses and wont complete it !!! she's paid her fees already and i'm worried she wont be able to go if they simply wont fill this in and give her an appointment for a physical and required vaccinations, has anyone else had this issue ?

Why don't you try a travel clinic or a private GP?

Go to another doctor? There are specific doctors who the American Embassy steers you to if you need a fiance or spouse visa - find out name and contact details and make an appointment. It will cost you.

Go to the GP office and make a nuisance of yourself?

Does the doctor not need to see DD in order to fill out the form? Make an appointment for her and don't leave until the forms have been filled in.

This will need to be done outside of the NHS. Have you told the admin team at the surgery that you are aware you need to pay for this service?

i've tried calling private GP practices and none will fill out the forms because they're not insured to do so because its for overseas work

the admin team at the surgery said when we dropped the forms in that it would be 4 weeks and it would be charged which was absolutely fine but now they're not doing keep making excuses even though we have chased 3-4 times a week them and we're 9 weeks in with no forms completed and no physical examination appointment booked in!

Have you tried asking American embassy for list of UK private doctor who will or asking the camp provider if they’ve found a solution to this issue before?

no private GP will touch this for some reason i've called a few they all say they're not insured to do so!

Could she request a copy of her medical notes? There is no charge for them, it would include medication she takes/has had, allergies, immunisations, any chronic illnesses like asthma, consultations. You could ask her optician for information on her eyesight if she has been recently.

We've had the occasional young patient requesting a Camp America form to be completed by the GP but to my knowledge there was no face to face medical, just information from their records.

You can have a travel consultation with the Practice Nurse but if she is up to date with routine vaccinations it wouldn't be necessary unless she had to have things like hepatitis, meningitis and rabies which would probably incur a fee.

there is an actual form that needs completing signing and stamping by physician and the required vaccination form also needs completing by the physician
but our GP wont book her an appointment because its not urgent and shes been waiting now 8 weeks

You need to get in touch with the American Embassy and find out the contact details of the panel of doctors who do the medical exams for certain visas and go to one of them. The GP should forward medical history and Vax details for filling in.

You need to contact Camp America and explain your problem to them too, to see if they have any suggestions.

The practice nurse suggestion is a good one - it's a matter of filling in details. I'd make an utter nuisance of myself if I were you.

Don't let the grass grow under your feet here.

You should go in person and hound the administrator of the GP practice.

Don't rely on phone calls. It's too easy for them to fob you off over the phone.

It's private work and does not need to be completed by an NHS GP. "Hounding" staff will get folk nowhere.

Also I know of many folk who completed these forms themselves. No checks are done to ensure that an actual GP completed them.

Being blunt - the GP has got enough to do with their NHS work and private work that impacts on livelihoods / adoptions etc

A Camp America medical is never going to be top of the to do list.

I used to work at a private hospital and we did lots of this type of medical, both face to face or paper based. Worth asking at a local one…..

Write to the practice manager.

Dear PM,

I spoke to reception on X date about patient Xs form being completed to be employed by camp America on x dates.

I was informed this was private work at X cost and would take 3-4 weeks.

It's now been 9 weeks and we still haven't had a consultation or completion of the forms and I've not yet been given an indication if when this can be done.

Please can you support me in rectifying this by recommending other options for us to be able to get these forms complete in the near future. None of the options I've investigated have been fruitful.

Xxxxxxxxx

I've often found writing to a practice manager gets things moving - and you don't need to make it a complaint.

You do realise GP practices are struggling to give appointments to people who are actually ill?

For every person on here complaining that they can’t see their GP for genuine health needs this is why.

Because we are bogged down with this ‘just needs a stamp/signature’ private nonsense.

No, that is not just an appointment and stamp. You can guarantee if something happens your child at camp America the litagation ans multi million dollar bill will come hounding me.

it’s not just an appointment, it’s read the form, search through years of medical records, vaccine records are often hand written from the late 90s/2000s, assimilate that info, examine your daughter, record that information and then complete the form.

how long do you think this would take? Of a professionals private time and for what fee? What would your solicitor charge for this risk?

and all the while my nhs patients with breast or bowel cancer symptoms wait even longer?

there is a good reason private gps won’t touch it. Because it’s risky.

Hounding the practice won’t help, in fact we would just say no.

If you want my useful advice, ask the PM politely if it’s likely to be completed - and accept it may be a NO.

they won’t recommend people - it’s not our role.

ask other families where they went/ which private services there are.

back in the day I went to a private service for something similar - cost £200 about 20 years ago. The price you pay for the ‘signature’ and I accepted that.

you can have a SAR but it has a relatively long deadline m, which you can take to a private provider.

Please also not a GP practice may not have your childhood vaccinations record, depends on the area. But as a mum I would expect you have a record of all the vaccines/dates anyway.

More than 30 years ago, it took less than one day in Ireland, and another appointment to get a chest X ray done for my visa.

It is appalling that records are not digitized in the UK. You are years behind other countries.

If it can't be done, then the practice should have said no, sorry, we cant do that for you, not left this OP and her child dangling. Instead, they gave her an estimated date by which it could be done. Which is shamefully disrespectful of the patient.

And btw, the nonsense about litigation is inadvertently hilarious.

Same comment here - GP needs to tell people straight up if the form can't be filled out.

Lying to people is never right.

https://www.zoomdoc.com/product/camp-and-trip-medical

No idea if that will work but maybe worth a try?

Hi Try Just Health Medicals, we are a nationwide medical clinic and are able to complete these medical forms. Get in touch on 01282936900 or check out the website
www.just-health.co.uk

Hi LMLBear,
Did you manage to find somewhere to get the form completed, as having the same issue, including having contacted lots of private medical companies.
Thanks

Hi
I has the same problem.
Just booked with Just Health - it's £75.
Appointments were limited though, so don't delay. Hope this helps.