Most of the services your doctor provides for you are supplied under the National Health Service (NHS). There are, however, some letters, reports and other documents which are not covered by the NHS, this is classed as private work. Your doctor is entitled to charge you for the time it takes to supply or prepare this information. Doctors are not obliged to provide private services and can refuse.
What is non-NHS work and why is there a fee?
The NHS provides most health care to most people free of charge, but there are exceptions: prescription charges have existed since 1951 and there are several other services for which fees are charged. Sometimes the charge is because the service is not covered by the NHS, for example, providing copies of health records or producing medical reports for insurance companies, solicitors or employers.
Do GPs have to do non-NHS work for their patients?
With certain limited exceptions, for example work that has been ordered by a court, GPs do not have to carry out non-NHS work on behalf of their patients.
Whilst GPs will always attempt to assist their patients with the completion of forms they are not required to do such non-NHS work.
Generally, GPs would not refuse any work unless there are justifiable conditions, for example:
- The doctor is unable to complete it within a certain deadline due to other work;
- The doctor does not feel they are qualified enough or has the knowledge to complete the report or provide a letter of support.
What will I be charged?
The BMA recommends that GPs tell patients in advance if they will be charged, and what the fee will be. It is up to individual doctors to decide how much they will charge. A list of our costs are below. Please note these are a guidance for our doctors and there may be differences in cost, if for example there are more complexities.
Why does it sometimes take my GP a long time to complete my request?
Time spent completing forms and preparing reports and writing letters takes the GP away from the medical care of their patients. Most GPs have a very heavy workload and paperwork takes up an increasing amount of their time. Our GPs do non-NHS work out of the NHS time.
When a doctor signs a certificate or completes a report or letter, it is a condition of remaining on the Medical Register that they only sign what they know to be true. To complete even the simplest of forms, therefore, the doctor might have to check the patient’s entire medical record. Carelessness or an inaccurate reports or letters can have serious consequences for the doctor with the General Medical Council (the doctors’ regulatory body) or even the Police. If you are a new patient, we may not have your medical records so the doctor must wait for these before completing the form.
Please note that a patient cannot request doctors to type certain text or wording in any report or letter. Reports and letters are based on the GPs clinical judgement and cannot be edited unless there are factual errors.
Examples of non-NHS services for which GPs can charge patients for:
- accident/sickness certificates for insurance purposes
- holiday insurance certificates
- letters “to whom it may concern” regarding health conditions (conditions apply). However, a GP will not do most letters of support – see policy on letters of support
- private medical insurance reports
- medical evidence for clinical trials
Examples of non-NHS services for which GPs can charge other institutions for:
- life assurance and income protection reports for insurance companies
- reports for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in connection with disability living allowance and attendance allowance
- medical reports for local authorities in connection with adoption and fostering
- copies of records for solicitors
We do NOT offer the following services:
- Medical assessments for sporting events, occupational health assessments, gym memberships or fitness to fly reports. We would encourage you to seek private consultation with a suitable accredited physician for these assessments.
- Letters of support that require an opinion and are not based on medical facts, or where there is not enough information on a patients record to produce a letter.
- Private prescription or private travel vaccinations.
- Court of Protection (COP3)/Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) assessments.
- Capacity assessments for financial / testamentary capacity. These are very specialist and niche area of medical practise and should be carried out by psychiatrist or specialist doctors with experience in such assessments.
- Private drug testing for insurance, occupational or probationary work.
- References for employment purposes.
- Providing an official document to confirm proof of address.
- Signing for Passports and Home Office declarations. Please note that doctors are specifically exempt from the list of accepted registered occupations that can countersign a passport. For a list of accepted professions please see the government website.
- Any requests from a private consultant. Please see our policy What happens when you see a consultant privately.
Request for Medical Records
You can make a request for your summary of your medical record but this takes up to 30 days. If you request more than one copy of your medical records, then we will charge you for the second copy as this is duplicate work and deemed excessive.
Please note you can set yourself up on the NHS App to view your medical records.
Evidence for Clinical / Medical Trials
Many patients choose to take part in clinical trials, this is your personal decision. The practice will happily supply a summary of your information for the medical trial, but this takes up to 30 days. It is your responsibility to request this information in good time for your trial. We will not verify information, stamp or sign it – if anything further is required then a fee will be applied only if the patient’s own GP is willing to provide further evidence, this is fully at the discretion of the individual GP.
What can I do to help?
- Read the information that comes with these types of forms carefully before requesting your GP to complete them. You must request this via our website using the Request a Letter or Medical Report form, anything taken into consultations will not be processed.
- If you have several forms requiring completion, present them all at once and ask the admin team if we are to complete them at the same time to speed up the process.
- Do not expect your GP to process forms overnight: urgent requests may mean that a doctor has to make special arrangements to process the form quickly, and this may cost more. Usually non-NHS work will take 4 – 6 weeks.