Why am I being charged?
GP surgeries have a contract with the Government which outlines services that they should provide for their patients via the NHS. GPs are funded by the money they receive for carrying out this work. From this funding, they must cover their costs including staff, resources, building maintenance etc. Any work carried out by GP surgeries beyond the scope of this contract is not paid for by the NHS.
GPs can provide up-to-date, accurate medical information about their patients to third parties for specific reasons i.e. private medicals or insurance claims. Therefore, in recent years, more and more organisations have been requesting GP input for services which are not covered by the NHS contract. As this type of work is not covered by the contract, GP surgeries do not receive any money for this service.
This work takes time and resources and therefore attaching a fee helps to cover some of that expense. The BMA (British Medical Association) suggest fees for non-NHS work, which is not covered under GP’s NHS contract. However, the fees are guidelines only and a GP surgery is not obliged to charge the rates suggested. The BMA recommends that GPs tell patients and third parties in advance if they will be charged, and how much. However, it is not possible to provide a definitive list of fees for all forms as there is significant variability in the forms we need to complete, so we can often only provide an estimate. The final price of the service will be confirmed on completion of the document at the discretion of the GP depending on how resource intensive the task was.
Why does it sometimes take my GP a long time to complete my form?
Time spent handling the documents, scanning, updating our records and completing forms/reports takes various staff members away from their usual (NHS) work. GPs have a very heavy workload and paperwork takes up an increasing amount of their time, so many GPs find they must complete this work in addition to their standard clinical practice.
Additionally, to ensure accurate information is provided, the GP may have to have a detailed look into your medical history including previous consultations, documents and specialist reports which can be time consuming.
What do I do?
If you require a private document, please drop this request with the reception team. On receipt of this request, we update our records system and this request will be added to our workload. We estimate that requests will take 6-8 weeks to complete and therefore we request that you do not contact us to chase any forms up until after this window. Any urgent requests should be made at the time of dropping the form into reception. If patients call us up to check the progress of their request, this creates additional administrative work which may further delay your own or other people’s requests.
On completion of your request, we will contact you to arrange a pick up and payment of the associated fee.
Galleries Medical Practice Private Document Fees
| Certificate / Form | Fee |
| Simple form requiring a GP signature | £20 |
| Bus pass | £10 |
| Shotgun / firearm licence | £50 |
| Renewal of above | £35 |
| Holiday cancellation | £35 |
| Private Sick Note | £35 |
| Sickness / accident insurance claim | £35 – £50 |
| Provident association claim form e.g. BUPA | £35 |
| Short insurance claim form (dates, diagnoses, signature | £35 |
| HGV / Taxi driver (20 minutes F2F) | £80 |
| Extract from records – no examination | £60 |
| Proforma report – no examination | £80 |
| Detailed Written report – no examination | £100 |
| Form AH prospective carer | £100 |
| Ofsted Health Declaration Form | £85 |
| Simple certificate of fact | £20 |
| Camp America (With / without examination) | £50 / £25 |
| DVLA fitness to drive proforma | £40-£80 |
*The Fees above have been set after reviewing several similar providers and BMA guidance
** If your form does not fall in the above category, the practice will let you know an approximate fee for completion.
***We do not provide the following:
- Covid Recovery Certificates
- Fitness to Travel / fly / exercise
- Sign passport or verify personal documents