Non NHS Services & Private Referrals

Non NHS/Private Work

The practice provides private medical services, such as full medical reports for insurance purposes, completion of health or travel insurance claim forms, confirmation of fitness to travel and other adhoc private letters.

Completion of forms for travel consessions/passes is not part of NHS services and a fee is payable in all cases.

Note that completion of these types of forms and letters carries a significant fee - ranging from £75 up to £250 depending on the amount of work and time is involved.  Our private fee list can be viewed below.

JAN 2024 FEES FOR NON NHS WORK.docx

All of these services are outside the scope of the NHS General Medical Services Contract, and all respective fees are therefore payable by the patient.  A fee list is on display at reception.

Please note that completion of Water Forms is outside the scope of NHS Services and as such a charge of £75.00 is payable for these forms. 

If you require any private work to be undertaken, please make enquiries at reception or complete the form in the On Line Forms section of this website.  Our administration team co-ordinates all private work and will advise you on the cost before the work is undertaken. Payment of all fees is due prior to any private work being undertaken. 

We are happy to provide print outs of medical records.  In most cases these will be accepted, however any review of patient notes and production of a letter or completion of any form by a GP will be subject to the fees specified in the document above.

Sporting Activities/Aviation/High Adrenalin/High Altitude activities - Fitness to take part

GPs are not specialists in these fields.  They are not trained or indemnified to carry out such assessments or to give an opinion. 

We cannot sign any documentation or endorse or advise that a patient is medically fit to take part in any of these types of activities. 

You should seek a medical opinion from a Doctor who specialises in this field.  Upon request, we are happy to provide a print out of your medical records to aid with any assessment by such specialist.

We do not issue prescriptions for medication relating to altitude sickness or for undertaking any other of the above activities.

Please note that, regardless of any circumstances, we DO NOT countersign passport application forms. 

We DO NOT undertake any form of firearms certification or provide any assessments to the suitability of such certificates or licences nor will we be involved in any aspect of the application process other than to provide a factual printout of the patient records, on application by the patient and provided to the patient themselves.  This is in line with the conscientious objection of the Partners to the holding of firearms.

WE DO NOT undertake Blue Badge applications.

Payment for all private services can be made by cash or debit/credit card only.

The turnaround time for completion of any of the above items is 28 days once payment has been received.  You should not expect these items to be done in shorter timescales and it may be that you wish to obtain such confirmation from other sources.

NOTE THAT AT BUSY TIMES OR PERIOD OF STAFF SHORTAGES, WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO UNDERTAKE ANY OR ALL OF THE PRIVATE WORK LISTED ABOVE - THIS IS SO THAT WE CAN USE ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES TO PROVIDE CORE NHS CARE TO OUR PATIENTS - YOU WILL BE ADVISED OF THIS AT THE TIME OF REQUEST.

Private Referrals

Many patients choose to opt to be referred to private providers.  This is usually due to the fact that they are paying to be seen much quicker.

We are happy to refer any patient to the private provider of their choice on request, however we must stress that you are liable for all costs involved in undertaking private treatment.  This may include tests, investigations, prescriptions and medication costs and follow up consultation fees.

If a patient has chosen to pay for private healthcare because:-

a) their treatment is not available on the NHS or 

b) they do not wish to be treated on the NHS 

they are responsible for paying for all costs, including tests, and the private provider is responsible for managing every aspect of their healthcare (unless the patient chooses to transfer back to the NHS at a later date to continue treatment).

For that reason, private providers should not be asking GPs to arrange any tests that they deem necessary, and intend to use, to make a diagnosis and recommend a course of treatment with. 

It is the private provider’s responsibility to arrange tests for patients whose care they are managing, and the patient’s responsibility to pay for them. 

Policy regarding requests from private providers to start or take over prescribing medication.

In addition to the above policy, the practice cannot prescribe on behalf of private providers nor continue to supply prescriptions which have previously been supplied by the private provider unless this is a medication which a GP would normally prescribe and the prescription is in line with local health board guidelines. We are not permitted to have shared care protocols with private providers.

Private consultants wishing to transfer patients to NHS care should directly refer their patient to the appropriate NHS service who will reassess and, if appropriate, take over your treatment. At the point that your care has been taken over by an NHS service, a request may be made by the NHS service to share prescribing responsibility with the practice. The practice will manage all such requests in line with the local health board guidelines.

Screening tests carried out by private providers which have not been approved by the UK National Screening Committee

The practice supports the national guidance which can be found on the RCGP website.

If the patient chooses to have private screening tests or investigations that are not available or recommended by the NHS, they should ensure that they have the funds or insurance in place to cover the costs of any additional treatment or investigation that is incurred as the NHS may not cover these.