Consent & Medical Bills

jsf595

I experienced a general ill health for a few days and after visiting NHS GP and A&E, a friend referred me to a private GP which doesn't even accept medical insurance. Now I never signed any agreement nor gave any consent, but paid the extremely expensive consultation fee. During the session he took my blood and never told that what tests he wants to carry out on, despite me giving my NHS GP and A&E blood tests which were done a few days earlier to him. So then a few weeks later he sends me a massive bill for those tests, which I wasn't aware of and took my by surprise, as 95% of them were the exact same ones NHS had already done.

So I emailed them back and tell them this is not acceptable and no one told me, nor I gave consent, nor I signed anything and if you would've told me which they should legally, then I wouldnt have agreed to it. I asked for the test results a few times and they totally ignored producing the test results, which made me to think its all a hoax. Came in a response from them, now giving me a 50% discount on the total which I found really bizarre and there on another offer of 25% of the total amount, and setting out a 14 day period for me to respond and if I dont, they want to pursue for the whole amount.

I believe they are in breach of contract, as no terms and condition was given to me, nor my consent was taken, nor I was told about the figure to be expecting.

I have already reported them to CQC and Citizens Advise and Trading Standards and want to see where I stand with all this, and whether they can pursue this any further.

Thank you.

elsien

Do you not think sticking your arm out and letting them take blood would imply some sort of testing would be taking place. And some level of consent? 

Surely at that point you asked them what they were going to do? 

jsf595

He said a blood test, but charged me for 12 separate tests. Legally I believe he had to tell me that there will be these many tests and whether I would be ok to go ahead with it. That's the normal practice with medical space I believe. I didnt have any issue for paying for a basic blood test but not duplicates of what I had already provided him with.

jon81uk

What did you expect to happen when blood was taken? You must have been aware that blood is normally taken to then have tests done on it?

p3ncilsharpener

jsf595 said:

He said a blood test, but charged me for 12 separate tests. Legally I believe he had to tell me that there will be these many tests and whether I would be ok to go ahead with it. That's the normal practice with medical space I believe. I didnt have any issue for paying for a basic blood test but not duplicates of what I had already provided him with.

I've had blood tests and I don't think they've ever specifically told me how many tests they were doing or what specific tests they were doing.

I wouldn't expect them to, it's going to go over the heads of the vast majority of the population anyway.

elsien

Have you actually made a written complaint using their formal complaints procedure?
You obviously agreed to tests because you agreed to let them take blood; the dispute is around the level of testing and the costs.
I've never been to a private GP but I know when i took my dog to an expensive out of hours hospital they explained the likely costs and got my agreement before going ahead. You'd hope a doctor would be similar.
What was in the terms and conditions you agreed to at the initial consultation? 

Having said that, you clearly had no faith in your GP or in A&E if you went private after working your way through the NHS system for a few days,  so that would tend to suggest that you didn't trust the test results that they had carried out, because if you did you wouldn't have then have seen the need to pay for a third doctor.  Which could explain why the tests were repeated. 

sheramber

I expect  a private GP  would use his own trusted  labs rather than trust  NHS results.

jon81uk

jsf595 said:

He said a blood test, but charged me for 12 separate tests. Legally I believe he had to tell me that there will be these many tests and whether I would be ok to go ahead with it. That's the normal practice with medical space I believe. I didnt have any issue for paying for a basic blood test but not duplicates of what I had already provided him with.

I don't think there is such thing as a "basic blood test". Certainly when I've had NHS blood tests the phlebotomist has had to use several containers for different tests, just for simple tests, but that may have still be 8 different tests just around liver function and similar.
By presenting your arm for blood to be taken you must have accepted there will be something to pay, so the question before leaving the site would be how much is there to pay?
What did you sign on entering the GP practice? What did you sign before leaving?

jsf595

jon81uk said:

jsf595 said:

He said a blood test, but charged me for 12 separate tests. Legally I believe he had to tell me that there will be these many tests and whether I would be ok to go ahead with it. That's the normal practice with medical space I believe. I didnt have any issue for paying for a basic blood test but not duplicates of what I had already provided him with.

I don't think there is such thing as a "basic blood test". Certainly when I've had NHS blood tests the phlebotomist has had to use several containers for different tests, just for simple tests, but that may have still be 8 different tests just around liver function and similar.
By presenting your arm for blood to be taken you must have accepted there will be something to pay, so the question before leaving the site would be how much is there to pay?
What did you sign on entering the GP practice? What did you sign before leaving?

Thank you for this. I paid the consultation fee fully which he charged me double the normal rate he has for consultation. The issue here is that I provided the my GP's test result to him which was done 2 days before and his invoice is for the same set of tests which he hasn't provided me a copy of despite my three attempts to obtain them. I never signed anything with him before, during or after. Citizens Advice told me this is a breach of contract, as there was nothing signed, and no terms and conditions was given.

jsf595

jsf595 said:

jon81uk said:

jsf595 said:

He said a blood test, but charged me for 12 separate tests. Legally I believe he had to tell me that there will be these many tests and whether I would be ok to go ahead with it. That's the normal practice with medical space I believe. I didnt have any issue for paying for a basic blood test but not duplicates of what I had already provided him with.

I don't think there is such thing as a "basic blood test". Certainly when I've had NHS blood tests the phlebotomist has had to use several containers for different tests, just for simple tests, but that may have still be 8 different tests just around liver function and similar.
By presenting your arm for blood to be taken you must have accepted there will be something to pay, so the question before leaving the site would be how much is there to pay?
What did you sign on entering the GP practice? What did you sign before leaving?

Thank you for this. I paid the consultation fee fully which he charged me double the normal rate he has for consultation. The issue here is that I provided the my GP's test result to him which was done 2 days before and his invoice is for the same set of tests which he hasn't provided me a copy of despite my three attempts to obtain them. I never signed anything with him before, during or after. Citizens Advice told me this is a breach of contract, as there was nothing signed, and no terms and conditions was given.

Also he doesn't accept any medical insurance either. He charges patients direct and doesn't work with insurers which is strange on its own.

68ComebackSpecial

jsf595 said:

jsf595 said:

jon81uk said:

jsf595 said:

He said a blood test, but charged me for 12 separate tests. Legally I believe he had to tell me that there will be these many tests and whether I would be ok to go ahead with it. That's the normal practice with medical space I believe. I didnt have any issue for paying for a basic blood test but not duplicates of what I had already provided him with.

I don't think there is such thing as a "basic blood test". Certainly when I've had NHS blood tests the phlebotomist has had to use several containers for different tests, just for simple tests, but that may have still be 8 different tests just around liver function and similar.
By presenting your arm for blood to be taken you must have accepted there will be something to pay, so the question before leaving the site would be how much is there to pay?
What did you sign on entering the GP practice? What did you sign before leaving?

Thank you for this. I paid the consultation fee fully which he charged me double the normal rate he has for consultation. The issue here is that I provided the my GP's test result to him which was done 2 days before and his invoice is for the same set of tests which he hasn't provided me a copy of despite my three attempts to obtain them. I never signed anything with him before, during or after. Citizens Advice told me this is a breach of contract, as there was nothing signed, and no terms and conditions was given.

Also he doesn't accept any medical insurance either. He charges patients direct and doesn't work with insurers which is strange on its own.

Not strange at all as I've never heard of a medical insurance policy in this country which includes cover for consulting with a General Practitioner.