GP wants to charge excessive fee for Medical Form

juliescot

bumpoowee wrote: »

Well I guess you have a lot more money to throw around than I do then! That's the best part of a day's wages to me, I would resent having to pay that for some overpaid and overrated GP to come down from their ivory tower to lower themselves to signing a bit of paper that I had no choice but to accept. When I was a student £59 would have been a week or mores spending money.

£10 sounds fair to me.

£10 sounds like a bargain to me.

See it all about opinions, who should decide then?

I have no idea how much money you have to throw around - I have none to spare, so if you are throwing any I'll have it.

I don't think my GP is overpaid or over-rated for the service she provides, but then perhaps because she is good and saved my life, I have quite a high opinion of her.

seven-day-weekend

Half an hour's of a GP's time is considerably more than £10!

You wouldn't expect your lawyer or architect to work for that, why your GP?

juliescot

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Half an hour's of a GP's time is considerably more than £10!

You wouldn't expect your lawyer or architect to work for that, why your GP?

Because it is potentially something to do with the NHS (which it isnt) and we should get everything for free:rolleyes:

bumpoowee

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Half an hour's of a GP's time is considerably more than £10!

You wouldn't expect your lawyer or architect to work for that, why your GP?

At the risk of going round in circles, if it really did take them half an hour to fill in four questions (which are probably a copy + paste job) and write a signature they would very quickly find a way of doing it much more efficiently. I don't accept for a second such a basic task should take so long, if I was that inefficient in my job I'd very quickly find myself on the dole.

juliescot

Until a qualified GP enlightens us all, then we do not actually know what the task involves, the complexity of the task or the time taken. So speculation about the rate is just that - speculation.

Errata

Why should a GP give up the time he has outside of treating patients for nothing or very little financial recompense? Why shouldn't they charge? A student's medical form is no part of any necessary medical treatment, which is a doctor's job. Treating the sick - geddit ?

bumpoowee

Errata wrote: »

Why should a GP give up the time he has outside of treating patients for nothing or very little financial recompense? Why shouldn't they charge? A student's medical form is no part of any necessary medical treatment, which is a doctor's job. Treating the sick - geddit ?

Alright, this is the last thing I am going to say on this topic because it has gotten very old, but I think GPs need to be removed from their pedestal and come live in the real world. £100k a year for a 30 hour week and 45+ days leave a year (this is no exagerration, I know a GP very well who admits to this) is a farce. The way GPs practices are run are hugely inefficient and beyond a joke.

In my local practice to get an appointment you have to ring at 8am ON THE DAY to try (no guarantee) to get an appointment - how the hell is anybody who works supposed to plan for that? If GPs were made to work for their money we would get a much better service - this attitude that they are gods helps nothing other than GPs egos.

Although we don't know what these 4 questions are that the OP needs a GP to sign off on, it is a fair bet that they are standard and simply a matter of checking against a patients records - which could potentially be a fully automated process but at the very least should be no more than 5 minutes work. If GPs are not forced to lower the price they will never modernise and continue ripping people off to pay for their duck ponds and golf club memberships - for those of you who have never been students, £59 is a lot of money to most students.

The_Grandmaster

olly300 wrote: »

If it's a practice like most GPs that will get you no where.

The original topic has been diverted slightly but returning to what he/she can do to get a reduction in the price:

Although the above person suggested that asking politely to remove the fees and taking a box of chocolates won`t work in a GP practice, that is what I have done in the past and it worked (to fill in 3 forms)! So I still think a box of chocolates is worth a try!

juliescot

bumpoowee wrote: »

Alright, this is the last thing I am going to say on this topic because it has gotten very old, but I think GPs need to be removed from their pedestal and come live in the real world. £100k a year for a 30 hour week and 45+ days leave a year (this is no exagerration, I know a GP very well who admits to this) is a farce. The way GPs practices are run are hugely inefficient and beyond a joke. Not in my experience, of the last two GPs. One of whom lives in the real world so much that he was stabbed by one of his patients in his surgery.

In my local practice to get an appointment you have to ring at 8am ON THE DAY to try (no guarantee) to get an appointment - how the hell is anybody who works supposed to plan for that? I must be fortunate in that I can ring ahead and make an appointment for any day within the coming week, if it is urgent if I ring before 0830 I will get an appointment before 1130. If GPs were made to work for their money we would get a much better service - this attitude that they are gods helps nothing other than GPs egos. What a load of nonsense.

Although we don't know what these 4 questions are that the OP needs a GP to sign off on, it is a fair bet so that will be the speculation I mentioned that they are standard and simply a matter of checking against a patients records - which could potentially be a fully automated process but at the very least should be no more than 5 minutes work. You think If GPs are not forced to lower the price they will never modernise and continue ripping people off to pay for their duck ponds and golf club memberships - for those of you who have never been students, more rubbish £59 is a lot of money to most students. £59 is a lot of money to many people not just students

I know you have now had your fill of this thread but do try and ease off on the speculation in future.

bumpoowee

juliescot wrote: »

I know you have now had your fill of this thread but do try and ease off on the speculation in future.

Fair enough, and for your homework please consider the value and necessity of reasonable assumptions based on the available evidence in various scenarios.