Ash cash

vqmismatch

As a junior doctor is there any way can I waive crem form fees for cases that are thought to be under particular hardship? My understanding in my current place of work is that I get paid cash at the time of filling out the form, the trust then bill the funeral director who then bill the estate.

A friend who used to routinely not seek his ash cash later found that the trust had billed the funeral directors regardless and kept the money. At present I have a massive student loan to try and make a dent in so I can't see myself making a habit of waiving fees but it would be nice to know if it is an option.

Flugelhorn

As a GP I sometimes find that I have to ask the funeral director for the money but presume that even if I didn;t then they would still bill the deceased's estate for it - it gets included in the overall bill for the funeral. Quite difficult to avoid the money being taken off the family - if you feel that you don't want it, then donate the amount to an appropriate charity.

g6jns_2

vqmismatch wrote: »

As a junior doctor is there any way can I waive crem form fees for cases that are thought to be under particular hardship? My understanding in my current place of work is that I get paid cash at the time of filling out the form, the trust then bill the funeral director who then bill the estate.

A friend who used to routinely not seek his ash cash later found that the trust had billed the funeral directors regardless and kept the money. At present I have a massive student loan to try and make a dent in so I can't see myself making a habit of waiving fees but it would be nice to know if it is an option.

If there are no funds to pay for a funeral the local authority are responsible for the costs so the relatives don't have to pay but can if they are able to. Hence there should not be a hardship issue.

vqmismatch

Many thanks for the advice, I will collect it without guilt then.

bongonaut

Let me try the FD's perspective here; It's so reassuring to hear that there are doctors who are prepared to waive their fee if a family is struggling financially. Local authorities will only pay for a funeral in the most extreme circumstances.

It would be fraudulent for a FD to bill the family if the fee had been waived. If this is suspected, it should be pursued via one of the funeral trade associations if the FD is a member, or via Trading Standards or even the police.

The difficulty is that there are so many different procedures for either paying GPs directly, or paying their practice, or in case of hospitals paying the Trust via monthly account.

Errata

You have to follow the policy and procedures of the NHS or Primary Care practice that employs you.

g6jns_2

bongonaut wrote: »

Let me try the FD's perspective here; It's so reassuring to hear that there are doctors who are prepared to waive their fee if a family is struggling financially. Local authorities will only pay for a funeral in the most extreme circumstances.

It would be fraudulent for a FD to bill the family if the fee had been waived. If this is suspected, it should be pursued via one of the funeral trade associations if the FD is a member, or via Trading Standards or even the police.

The difficulty is that there are so many different procedures for either paying GPs directly, or paying their practice, or in case of hospitals paying the Trust via monthly account.

The local authority are legally obliged to pay if the deceased had no funds to do so. They have no powers whatsoever to force the relatives, or anyone else, to pay.

vqmismatch

g6jns wrote: »

The local authority are legally obliged to pay if the deceased had no funds to do so. They have no powers whatsoever to force the relatives, or anyone else, to pay.

Good to know, many thanks.

Flugelhorn

Errata wrote: »

You have to follow the policy and procedures of the NHS or Primary Care practice that employs you.

I think completing cremation forms is outside the contracted work of the NHS.

vqmismatch

Flugelhorn wrote: »

I think completing cremation forms is outside the contracted work of the NHS.

Exactly, which is why fees for providing the service as an extra are negotiated nationally. Not doing them could prove difficult unless you want to force burials instead of cremations as you need to have been reasonably closely involved in the deceased's care in order to be able to fill the forms without risk of them bouncing, and often they can take a bloody long time if notes are a mess and the history is complex. Given a cremation is as I understand significantly cheaper than a burial if a family are struggling to pay not doing the crem form will simply make things worse.

There are as I understand it (rare) cases where a crem form cannot be done or an autopsy is required first.

Flugelhorn

If you think the first part of the form is complex and time consuming, wait until you start doing the second part!