GP wants to charge to sign a form!

john1

Fee finder
Certificates GPs cannot charge for

Council tax exemptions

To support a claim by or on behalf of a severely mentally impaired person for exemption from liability to pay the Council Tax or eligibility for a discount in respect of the amount of Council Tax payable.

see herehttp://www.bma.org.uk/support-at-work/pay-fees-allowances/fees/fee-finder/fee-finder-certificates-no-charge

POPPYOSCAR

Michtaylor09 wrote: »

Ever one of the above posters is wrong. The form for exemption from CT due to severe mental impairment (dementia) is one of the few forms that a GP is NOT ALLOWED to charge for.
Look on the Talking Point forum or speak to Age UK.
I know because I researched it before doing it for my MIL

I was just going to say how wrong this is to charge in these circumstances.


Glad to see common sense prevails after all.

Michtaylor09

john1 wrote: »

Fee finder
Certificates GPs cannot charge for

Council tax exemptions

To support a claim by or on behalf of a severely mentally impaired person for exemption from liability to pay the Council Tax or eligibility for a discount in respect of the amount of Council Tax payable.

see herehttp://www.bma.org.uk/support-at-work/pay-fees-allowances/fees/fee-finder/fee-finder-certificates-no-charge

Thank you John.
I haven't worked out how to post links when im posting on my phone.

AngelOfTheNorth

It isn't just the signature the GP would be charging for, it's the use of their professional reputation. If they sign something when they shouldn't, they're risking a comeback. I see that apparently they're not allowed to charge, but in that case, it would be quite understandable if they refused to do them.

Michtaylor09

AngelOfTheNorth wrote: »

It isn't just the signature the GP would be charging for, it's the use of their professional reputation. If they sign something when they shouldn't, they're risking a comeback. I see that apparently they're not allowed to charge, but in that case, it would be quite understandable if they refused to do them.

On this particular form, they are signing to say that their patient has been diagnosed with dementia. How is that going to damage their professional reputation. If they do try to refuse or try to charge for this form, a quick call to PALS will sort it out.

globalds

Now ..This might seem a naive question..
But if I worked for a company that was losing money hand over fist ..And my bosses found out that I had a good little earner going on that was taking a revenue stream off them ..How long do you think they would let me get away with it ?

Surely as this is more than a couple of pence and a couple of times a year .
Then the NHS should bring this service back in house .

This is one of those " Perks " that makes me feel little sympathy for striking junior doctors who will soon be GP's

Does anyone know where there is any information on how much on average a GP makes from signing documents ?

Pennywise

globalds wrote: »

This is one of those " Perks " that makes me feel little sympathy for striking junior doctors who will soon be GP's

Similar to teachers who enjoy the "perk" of external exam marking. No problem in them doing it in their own time, but was astounded to discover that apparently it's fair game to do it during lessons whilst the pupils are doing something else, i.e. worksheets or watching videos, etc. But apparently it's "fine" because they do it in the last few weeks of term (Early July) where they wouldn't be doing any proper teaching anyway!

Same with some NHS consultants who use their NHS secretary to arrange their private appointments, write up patient' notes, chase test results etc.

AngelOfTheNorth

Michtaylor09 wrote: »

On this particular form, they are signing to say that their patient has been diagnosed with dementia. How is that going to damage their professional reputation. If they do try to refuse or try to charge for this form, a quick call to PALS will sort it out.

The damage would be if they made an error, obviously. If a GP made a mistake for whatever reason and wrongly confirmed that someone had dementia when they didn't, the relevant council would doubtless be very unhappy. Rightly so! They might well seek to recover damages from someone. I'm not an insurance professional so I don't know whether it would be from the GPs own insurance or whether the employer would be held liable. No doubt you'll say don't make a mistake then, but the thing with humans is that we do.

It would be interesting to see if PALS or indeed any other body would have anything to say about a GP simply declining to do something that's not clinical work. Clearly if they're charging, that's a breach, but there doesn't appear to be any obligation on them to do it either.

Ames

This thread is interesting, I've just paid (only £15) for a Disabled Students Allowance form to be filled in and it was done wrongly.

They said that on x date I was given y diagnosis.

On x date, I was told that I definitely didn't have y diagnosis and had been misdiagnosed for the previous ten years.

Ironically, the fact that they charged me for the form makes me feel that I have more of a right to complain and get it changed.

Flugelhorn

globalds wrote: »

Now ..This might seem a naive question..
But if I worked for a company that was losing money hand over fist ..And my bosses found out that I had a good little earner going on that was taking a revenue stream off them ..How long do you think they would let me get away with it ?

Surely as this is more than a couple of pence and a couple of times a year .
Then the NHS should bring this service back in house .

This is one of those " Perks " that makes me feel little sympathy for striking junior doctors who will soon be GP's

Does anyone know where there is any information on how much on average a GP makes from signing documents ?

GP income is basically 2 streams - the NHS contract with various enhanced services included and private income.

GPs are independent businesses, if the NHS wanted to get the income they would have to change the contract to include all these things as contractual duties. The contractual consultations are complex enough without this!

The private is medicals eg insurance / HGV etc , insurance forms, letters, GANFYDs.


All of these are very time consuming and in the case of forms & letters comes well after the NHS work in terms of priority.
I don;t charge if it is stuff to do with insurance companies when people ill abroad on holiday and claiming even though that one takes a lot of time and ongoing paperwork,

Most frustrating are the insurance companies selling life insurance who want everything done yesterday and nag my reception staff relentlessly.

Also no fault solicitors acting for people after accidents - they request copies of the whole of the patients medical record back to the year dot. This has to be photocopied (every letter, blood test etc etc) , reviewed and redacted for third party info etc etc - max charge we can make is £50 - takes a receptionist away from phones / NHS work etc etc