GP charging for writing letter to assist appeal?

Consult our experts on 11 Plus appeals or any other type of school appeal

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Sanjay

GP charging for writing letter to assist appeal?

Post by Sanjay »

Dear All,

I'm new to this forum - wish I'd found it earlier!

To be as brief as is possible, my daughter took the 11+ exam for Slough and Langley having prepared for about 3 months. She scored 104 for Langley and 110 for Slough.

There are a number of factors that hindered her progress (since April my wife was suffering from severe depression - pre and postnatal, arrival of a new baby and I managed to break my arm about a week after baby arrived!).

In light of this, we made the decision to give it our best effort and appeal. To support our appeal, the school has already written a wonderful letter highlighting the fact my daughter is achieving level 5 in Maths, English and Science. We also asked our GP to give us a letter to confirm the health issues faced by myself / wife). A week later, having chased them, we're told it will cost us £50!? Should this be the case??? I'm pretty disgusted to be honest.

Thanks / Best Regards,

Sanjay
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: GP charging for writing letter to assist appeal?

Post by capers123 »

Sanjay wrote:I'm new to this forum - wish I'd found it earlier!{/quote]

Welcome, Sanjay.
There are a number of factors that hindered her progress (since April my wife was suffering from severe depression - pre and postnatal, arrival of a new baby and I managed to break my arm about a week after baby arrived!).
When was the baby born, when did your daughter take the test and was your wife still in PND? Was your daughter managing to get any sleep at the time of the exam?
We also asked our GP to give us a letter to confirm the health issues faced by myself / wife). A week later, having chased them, we're told it will cost us £50!? Should this be the case??? I'm pretty disgusted to be honest.
To me this seems quite normal. They can, and many do, charge for countersigning passports, holiday jabs, letters to insurance companies... anything that is not directly part of treating a patient. My GP has a list of charges up by the reception desk. Now weather it is fair is another matter, and some GP's may not charge - but their practice manager might not like it.

Have you spoken directly to the GP? She or He may well be more sympathetic than the receptionist.
Capers
disgusted

Post by disgusted »

I am a gp myself and we as a practice charge for letters (or we'd spend all day doing them instaed of seeing patients) . £50 pounds is scandalous in my opinion. The guidance from our union is £17 (+ VAT thanks to a chancellors stealth tax!) to cover time etc.
Guest

Post by Guest »

The GP's charge sounds high but not unusual in itself. Many GPs even charge for making private medical referals if they can't access the services within the NHS.
Sanjay

Thanx

Post by Sanjay »

Thanks for all your replies.

I'm still feeling it's unfair. The GP is someone who knows my family. She has been involved in a big way with my wife (diagnosis, referral to hospital, administration of drugs etc.). End of the day I'd probably end up paying it but I really think it's unjust as a matter of principal.

With regards to the other questions, new arrival was August time. Wife was 'ill' from April and she didn't really settle until late October. Even now, she is on a small dose of Prozac. It did affect the whole family and social services were involved. Do I / Should I mention the fact we had Social Worker visits as part of the appeal? Will this help or hinder? They were obviously involved because they were worried about the affect on my two children.

Thanks for all your help.

Regards,

Sanjeev
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

disgusted wrote:I am a gp myself and we as a practice charge for letters (or we'd spend all day doing them instaed of seeing patients) . £50 pounds is scandalous in my opinion. The guidance from our union is £17 (+ VAT thanks to a chancellors stealth tax!) to cover time etc.

Hi yes I agree - I charge £20-25 inc VAT for letters - any less and I would do nothing else all day!

It's OK doing them when you know of the background as in this case but difficult when asked to do a letter saying someone was ill on such and such a day when you didn't actually see them.

Trust GP got the consent of all those referred to in the letter ie those whose records where accessed or referred to ....
lucy
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:10 pm
Location: dorset

charging for Drs letter

Post by lucy »

Hi
I paid £10.00 for our letter unfortunatly it was a waste of time but you just do the best you can £50.00 seems well over the top.

very good luck
Lucy
stressed out mum
MelW
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:33 pm

Post by MelW »

My mother-in-law's GP is charging £25 for a letter with regards to her condition. Don't know if that is helpful?

MelW
Guest

Post by Guest »

I don't know what to advise about the social worker. My gut reaction is that the fact that SS were involved is good, objective evidence that your child had to deal with something well beyond "normal" stress. I suspect that the appeals panel will be seeing a stream of parents saying that their child's performance was affected by a variety of things. Some will probably exaggerate and the panel may become a bit jaded. The fact that external professionals have been involved may make them less sceptical in your case.
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Post by capers123 »

Anonymous wrote:My gut reaction is that the fact that SS were involved is good, objective evidence that your child had to deal with something well beyond "normal" stress....
.... The fact that external professionals have been involved may make them less sceptical in your case.
Everyone coming to appeal has some reason their child didn't do well, much of which is probably exaggerated (well, it's worth a try). So, yep, it sure would make me less scepetical; or to be fairer it would leap out and grab my attention. You could ask for a very brief note from SS saying that they were involved, and when - and if you can get them to give their assessment of how your daughter may have been affected, all the better.
Capers
Post Reply