Non-NHS Services

Medical Reports/Forms etc.

The National Health Service (NHS) provides most health care to most people free of charge but there are exceptions, for example medical reports for insurance companies, claim forms for private care and other letters and forms that a doctor is asked to complete/sign.  The Practice is entitled to charge a fee to cover the doctor’s time and any adminstration costs for any non NHS work.

All doctors have a very heavy workload and time spent completing forms and preparing private medical reports etc takes the doctor away from the medical care of his/her patient.  Therefore it is entirely the decision of the doctor whether they want to undertake any non NHS work.

Please note:  when a doctor signs a certificate or completes a medical report, it is a condition of remaining on the Medical Register that they only sign what they know to be true, therefore in order to complete even the simplest of forms the doctor will need to check the patient’s entire medical record – consequently what may appear to be a simplistic task will no doubt take some considerable time to undertake.

All fees for non NHS work must be paid in advance.

• The fee must be paid at the time of the request for the letter to be written or the form/report to be completed.
• We accept cash or cheques made payable to Almondbury Doctors Ltd.
• Our list of fees are available from Reception.
• The receptionist on duty will charge the fee which she feels most fits the paperwork you present, however this fee may be increased/decreased when the doctor assesses the work involved – you will be informed at the earliest opportunity if the fee is subject to change.
• A deposit of £55 must be paid at the time of booking an apppointment for a private medical examination, with the balance payable immediately prior to the appointment taking place (this deposit is non-refundable should the private appointment be missed or cancelled within 2 hours of the scheduled time).
• The doctor/practice reserves the right to decline any non NHS work – in these circumstances the advance payment will be fully refunded.

Please DO NOT expect the doctor/practice to process any letter/form immediately, we operate a queuing system for non NHS work and in no circumstances will it take priority over our routine NHS work.