How much for a doctors letter?

Cardamom

Hi,

I just wanted to ask how much you pay for a doctors letter. I have been told by my doctor that it will be £30. Is this what most doctors charge?

greyhound31

I raised this issue on MSE Forum last night. My partner was charged £12 for a doctors letter and £73 for the doctor to fill out some forms. I think its scandalous.

Cardamom

Hi Greyhound,

I did think that £30 was expensive especially since the letter will be a couple of lines long and typed out by the doctors secretary in about 5 minutes.

I'm actually thinking of changing doctors, this being the last in a list of problems I've had with them.

Toothsmith

greyhound31 wrote: »

I raised this issue on MSE Forum last night. My partner was charged £12 for a doctors letter and £73 for the doctor to fill out some forms. I think its scandalous.

Why?

Cardamom

Sorry, I read greyhounds post as £13 for the form filling.

£73 for what?!

funguy

Why is it scandalous?. The GP is not paid via the NHS for this work so is allowed to charge for this work just as a lawyer or accountant would charge for their expert time. In my experience, the hourly rates are far lower for doctors than accountants or lawyers or even some plumbers we have had recently!!

gizmo111

I paid £24.50 for a Dr to fill in a medical form to claim back cancelled holiday.

Amiss

greyhound31 wrote: »

I raised this issue on MSE Forum last night. My partner was charged £12 for a doctors letter and £73 for the doctor to fill out some forms. I think its scandalous.

£73 is a ridiculous amount!
I suppose a Dr deserves some financial recompense for services rendered but..was he using gold ink?!:rotfl:

funguy

A lot of forms from certain companies have standard rates which are agreed nationally such as certain medicals, insurance reports, holiday cancellations etc.....so the surgery/GP haav eno choice to charge more or less. Other charges such as simple letters or unusual forms can vary from place to place depending on how long they may take to complete or the amount of reserch work/typing involved which is only fair i guess.

The government wants a competitive market in GP surgeries so if you dont like, you can move elsewhere just like anything else like banks and supermarkets.

funguy

Amiss wrote: »

£73 is a ridiculous amount!
I suppose a Dr deserves some financial recompense for services rendered but..was he using gold ink?!:rotfl:

How can you comment that it is a ridiculous amount when no one is aware of how much patient data was required and how long it took to complete etc etc. Its like saying £73 is a ridiculous amount to replace tiles on a roof?!?!

suki1964

So a qualified doctor should have the same rates as say a road sweeper?

Its private work hes doing, not NHS. You dont like the charges, go find another private doctor. Or do you think the NHS should subsidise GP's for doing private work?

Decide if you want private or NHS. If you want private dont !!!!! about the charges