Medical form completion for college - GP charges

[Macmac]

Hi,

I had to make an appointment with my DD's local GP to complete her medical forms I will be sending soon to one of the colleges. I was told I have to pay £140 in cash as it will be an hour session & classed as a private appointment. Is this the normal routine everyone else experienced too? Is there any other cheaper option? Thank you x

[Frankie]

We had to pay too. I used the same report for all of the schools who requested one.

[dancingmuppet]

£140 in cash sounds a bit odd. I had to pay last year for my DD but only £19, although the GP didn't actually see my daughter they just filled in the forms.

[Dancing unicorn]

That sounds odd to me too! We didn’t pay anything to our gp when we did it, he was happy to do it! 

[Farawaydancer]

Yes, £130 cash for us, and a long appointment to fill in the form.  GPs can set their own prices for private work. Some charge, some don’t. 

[margarite]

We paid £45 last year, doctor just signed the form, no appointment needed. 

[Pixiewoo]

1 hour ago, dancingmuppet said:

£140 in cash sounds a bit odd. I had to pay last year for my DD but only £19, although the GP didn't actually see my daughter they just filled in the forms.

Same here. 

[Lifeafterballet]

It doesn’t have to be your GP. One of our Consultant colleagues did my children’s medical for vocational school 😄

[Macmac]

Thank you all. Could I ask when some of you say Dr just signed the form - this form has 4 pages with Dr completing sections on a specific health issues e.g. asthma, surgery, heart issues, mental health issues... And also growth & weight chart...unfortunately it's not just to sign that your child is fit for the training😞. 

[Dancing unicorn]

If I remember rightly, dd was with us to go thru form, chatting along the way about how excited she was - and we just had a double appointment! 

[Pixiewoo]

I think DD filled out the form herself, and the GP just checked it through, and signed to agree. However, DD did it all herself and i wasn't involved. This was for 18+ training. 

[Emeralds]

Can't you fill out the forms yourself and just send it to the GP to approve then sign? Probably cheaper that way. You must have some record (including on a wall!) of your DD's heights and weights, and no doubt know her medical history very well. 

Edited February 16 by Emeralds

[Macmac]

Thank you so much everyone. I will go back to my GP & see if I can come back with some cheaper option🙈xx

[Peanut68]

6 hours ago, Macmac said:

Hi,

I had to make an appointment with my DD's local GP to complete her medical forms I will be sending soon to one of the colleges. I was told I have to pay £140 in cash as it will be an hour session & classed as a private appointment. Is this the normal routine everyone else experienced too? Is there any other cheaper option? Thank you x

I think they may have in effect booked you in for a ‘Medical’ like could be requested to assess ‘fitness to work’/ insurance claims etc. 

I’d call your surgery & ask for price for signing the form that is to confirm ‘fitness for student training’. 
much of these forms are tick boxes about vaccinations etc so they will be able to complete from records without actually seeing individual & often surgeries have scales etc in reception area so you could pop in & prove this with receptionist perhaps to add to records? Even if just booking a regular appointment for cough etc you could request they check bmi so they’d then need to add height/weight to info. 
When we had to have form for a USA SI, we got charged I think £25 (most would’ve been £40 as that figure is also springing to mind) & it was just a case of emailing form to surgery who then printed it, completed & had GP sign & we collected, scanned & emailed to the school.  
 

[alison]

Yowza, that sounds expensive.  I thought £25 for a GP letter etc. was about standard, although it sounds as though this is rather more detailed.  I wonder if a receptionist or similar could fill in much of it and just get the GP to sign?  I think one surgery I know did that sort of thing.

[Jewel]

We struck lucky.  Our GP used to attend a private school in the same city as dd's school and back in the day his school shared a bus with them so he did it for free whilst reminising.  

[Streetdancer]

I was going to be charged £70 last year for a private GP appointment to produce a letter. This was before any funding offer, so I just asked the college (NBS) if they could wait for the medical form until after funding decisions had been made. They were fine with that. The college DD eventually chose required no GP letter. 

[Kerfuffle]

I guess it depends on the school but the one we had done had to be in person and involved blood pressure checks and things like lung capacity, much more in depth than just signing a form. Our local surgery couldn’t offer that so we went privately and it cost about £100. She was in year 11. 

[leotardmum]

as non nhs work each gp can set own fees  and opt in or out of 'private forms'  like this  ...... yes some may do it for free but rare these days xxx