Private Services FaQ’s

The National Health Service provides most health care free of charge, but there are exceptions. The Government’s contract with GPs covers medical services to NHS patients but not non-NHS work.

In recent years, more organisations have been involving doctors in a whole range of non-medical work. Sometimes the only reason that GPs are asked is because they are in a position of trust in the community, or because an insurance company or employer wants to ensure that information provided to them is true and accurate.

We can provide Private Letters or complete Medical Forms for patients upon request. Please be aware that there is a minimum fee for each non-NHS service.

This fee reflects the administrative time and clinical input required by the doctor to review your records, prepare the letter or document, and ensure it meets any specific requirements you may have. The exact fee may vary depending on the complexity and time involved. We will inform you if additional costs apply before proceeding.

If it is a letter you require, please contact the practice.

We will decide if an appointment is necessary. In the case of Driving Medical Examinations such as HGV/PCO medicals, we require the full fee in advance before we will book your appointment.

Insurance reports

DVLA reports

Adoption medicals

Ofsted reports for childminders

Armed forces reports

DWP reports

Taxi/HGV medicals

Claim forms for holidays cancelled due to sickness

Claim for reimbursement of school fees due to illness

Subject Access Requests

Assessment of mental capacity (usually from a solicitor, providing the correct form

for completion)

Housing letters for victims of domestic abuse (mandated and no charge)

Debt and mental health evidence form (mandated and no charge)

Council tax reduction form for people with dementia (mandated and no charge)

Private sick note,

Fitness for sports events / sky diving / holiday camps/scuba diving

Any letters to support housing (other than for domestic violence issues)

Fitness to fly letters

Pregnancy related flying letters (requested by airlines when >32/40 in some cases)

Letters for probation services (illness/unable to attend appointments)

Letters for school (absence/illness/exams)

Letters for court attendance as witness/juror

Letters to support immigration status

Exemption for council tax

YES, requests are made outside NHS contract and are therefore at the discretion of the GP Doctors. The GPs do not always have the insight to write some letters, in those circumstances we will try and point you in the right direction.

You have the opportunity to see medical reports before being sent, if you wish. Letters are generally given to the patient. The doctor can only write what they know to be true from your medical records, what you inform them of and their personal clinical knowledge of you. We do not and cannot guarantee your success with the recipient of the letter.

We cannot always guarantee a refund, if the work has already been allocated to a doctor, this means it has taken up a slot that would have been filled by someone elses request. Please contact us if you require a refund and it will have to be reviewed by the Management team. It is difficult to confirm a timescale for a refund to be completed and sent to your account, as it will need to be approved by our Central Finance Team and payments go out at a specific time of month. 

Private letters are outside the remit of NHS work, however, if you are unhappy with anything we have written you can call the practice. You should always make sure that the intended recipient of the letter has specifically requested it and that it will be of value to them in considering your specific request. Often it is better for you to ask them to write directly to us detailing what they need. This will save time and money where there is no specific requirement.

With certain limited exceptions, for example a GP confirming that one of their patients is not fit for jury service, 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.

The British Medical Association (BMA) suggest fees that GPs may charge their patients for non-NHS work (i.e. work not covered under their contract with the NHS) in order to help GPs set their own professional fees. However, the fees suggested by them are intended for guidance only; they are not recommendations and a doctor is not obliged to charge the rates they suggest.

Time spent completing forms and preparing reports takes the GP away from the medical care of his or her 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 allocated NHS time.

When a doctor signs a certificate or completes a report, it is a condition of remaining on the Medical Register that they only sign what they know to be true. In order to complete even the simplest of forms, therefore, the doctor might have to check the patient’s ENTIRE medical record. Carelessness or an inaccurate report 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.

Not all documents need a signature by a doctor, for example passport applications. You can ask another person in a position of trust to sign such documents free of charge. Read the information that comes with these types of forms carefully before requesting your GP to complete them.

If you have several forms requiring completion, present them all at once and ask your GP if he or she is prepared 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 weeks from payment.