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My gp is charging me £60

Hi
So I need an occupational health form signed by my gp for med school and they told me I have to pay £60 because it’s a “non nhs” task like wtf????? Is there any way for me get around this and not have to pay or any ideas on what I can do. I’m 17 I don’t work why would they expect to give them that much money over a stupid signature from a GP
(edited 3 years ago)

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Reply 1
Avatar for ANM775
ANM775
20
Original post by nusratislam
Hi
So I need an occupational health form signed by my gp for med school and they told me I have to pay £60 because it’s a “non nhs” task like wtf????? Is there any way for me get around this and not have to pay or any ideas on what I can do. I’m 17 I don’t work why would they expect to give them that much money over a stupid signature from a GP


it's just them trying to squeeze extra money from people.

unfortunately though, if there is no one else able to sign it you will have to pay
Original post by nusratislam
Hi
So I need an occupational health form signed by my gp for med school and they told me I have to pay £60 because it’s a “non nhs” task like wtf????? Is there any way for me get around this and not have to pay or any ideas on what I can do. I’m 17 I don’t work why would they expect to give them that much money over a stupid signature from a GP


Post it in the medicine forum. I think that is steep and a bit rough for a 17 year old especially when you dont even know if you have got in.
yes, they do that for everyone as it is not really a medical thing and it is a waste of the nhs' time and money
Original post by nusratislam
Hi
So I need an occupational health form signed by my gp for med school and they told me I have to pay £60 because it’s a “non nhs” task like wtf????? Is there any way for me get around this and not have to pay or any ideas on what I can do. I’m 17 I don’t work why would they expect to give them that much money over a stupid signature from a GP

It doesn't come at zero cost, you know - and it's not just 'a stupid signature'. The GP has to verify the information, look back through records, make sure everything ties up etc. It takes time, and a GPs time costs money. You can't expect the NHS to pay for this sort of thing - but I understand your frustration in that it's not for a holiday, but for 'NHS-related things', loosely.

Try speaking to your GP to explain what it's for: they might reduce the fee or waive it altogether. Private fees like this are down to the GP/practice, so there's always room to ask for a reduction.
Reply 5
Avatar for Bexjw
Bexjw
21
Original post by nusratislam
Hi
So I need an occupational health form signed by my gp for med school and they told me I have to pay £60 because it’s a “non nhs” task like wtf????? Is there any way for me get around this and not have to pay or any ideas on what I can do. I’m 17 I don’t work why would they expect to give them that much money over a stupid signature from a GP


This is actually really common and not unheard of. It seems a lot of money but it’s more for the inconvenience of it. You either pay for it or you don’t. All GPs at that practice will charge the same.
I guess DD was lucky as they didn't charge her. It never occured to me that they would. She did have an appointment (pre-lockdown) about something else around the same time so just popped the letter in to the practice a couple of days earlier and collected it at the end of the appointment.
I had a sick note from my GP yesterday and although they waived the charge for me, it would usually cost £20 at my surgery. It's honestly appalling considering the note they wrote was no more than four lines long and emailed to me so they wouldn't even have had to post it themselves.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by nusratislam
Hi
So I need an occupational health form signed by my gp for med school and they told me I have to pay £60 because it’s a “non nhs” task like wtf????? Is there any way for me get around this and not have to pay or any ideas on what I can do. I’m 17 I don’t work why would they expect to give them that much money over a stupid signature from a GP

The main people you should be angry at are the med school. This is a stupid pointless task. How does a doctor know what someone's past medical history is normally? They ask the patient... or maybe they get a printout, without someone having to sign for authenticity...

The GP should not be expected to do such things for free. I agree it is steep though. Problem is that whilst this may be fairly benign, some of the other stupid stuff they get asked to fill it then gets queried and creates further work, or might even leave them liable for something. And that is reflected in the price for everyone else.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by ReadingMum
I guess DD was lucky as they didn't charge her. It never occured to me that they would. She did have an appointment (pre-lockdown) about something else around the same time so just popped the letter in to the practice a couple of days earlier and collected it at the end of the appointment.

DD - this isn't mumsnet, you know :laugh:

Yes, she was lucky. Most charge at least £20, and often higher as in the OP's case. Good result for her, though :smile:
Reply 10
Avatar for gjd800
gjd800
20
About 3 years ago, ours went from 20 to 50 quid overnight :lol:
Original post by bones-mccoy
I had a sick note from my GP yesterday and although they waived the charge for me, it would usually cost £20 at my surgery. It's honestly appalling considering the note they wrote was no more than four lines long and emailed to me so they wouldn't even have had to post it themselves.

The price likely reflects the chance of the sickness being disputed by employers or becoming involved in some disability benefits dispute. Its the underlying bureaucracy that's the problem - some sick notes are very involved indeed.
Original post by nexttime
The price likely reflects the chance of the sickness being disputed by employers or becoming involved in some disability benefits dispute. Its the underlying bureaucracy that's the problem - some sick notes are very involved indeed.

Understandable if that was the case but it wasn't even anything to do with work, I needed it as evidence for my extenuating circumstances application at uni
Reply 13
Avatar for ANM775
ANM775
20
Original post by bones-mccoy
I had a sick note from my GP yesterday and although they waived the charge for me, it would usually cost £20 at my surgery. It's honestly appalling considering the note they wrote was no more than four lines long and emailed to me so they wouldn't even have had to post it themselves.




I remember getting a sick note in 2009 and paid nothing for it.

unless they've introduced a fee since since then?
Original post by ANM775
I remember getting a sick note in 2009 and paid nothing for it.

unless they've introduced a fee since since then?

Maybe! I do know it's not a set fee and changes from surgery to surgery
Original post by nusratislam
Hi
So I need an occupational health form signed by my gp for med school and they told me I have to pay £60 because it’s a “non nhs” task like wtf????? Is there any way for me get around this and not have to pay or any ideas on what I can do. I’m 17 I don’t work why would they expect to give them that much money over a stupid signature from a GP


Well if they cant claim money for this as an NHS service then they are effectivly charging you as if you were a private client.

Whilst it is only a signature think about it this way, they still need to use their medical expertise to read the form and give a judgment, even if this is a fairly trivial task they still need to take it seriously as their signature will be on the piece of paper; the 10 minutes it will take to go through the admin, read and sign it, is 10 minutes they are not seeing other patients and time then cant sign off on.

Could they do it for a more minimal charge out of generosity, yea sure they could. But they are choosing to charge their going rate.
Why do you need it in the first place? If your medical school want additional occupational health clearance it should be through their occupational health contract.
I dont have an issue charging- own time etc, but I think £60 to a school pupil is ridiculously steep.
If as said above you cna question the med school about other ways of satisfying the requirement then do that.
Original post by Etomidate
Why do you need it in the first place? If your medical school want additional occupational health clearance it should be through their occupational health contract.


It was via the occupational health services which work with the med school
Original post by 999tigger
I dont have an issue charging- own time etc, but I think £60 to a school pupil is ridiculously steep.
If as said above you cna question the med school about other ways of satisfying the requirement then do that.


I don’t think there is any other way of satisfying the requirement cause the letter says it’s compulsory to be signed and stamped by the practise. Do you think it would be worth emailing them and asking they could reimburse me or would that be a waste of time

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