Letters and medical reports

The surgery can provide various documents you may need to support with your wellbeing such as:

• Private Sick Certificate
• Medical Insurance forms
• Letter

We do not sign reports for sports events, marathons, sky diving, scuba diving. Private GPs or sports specialists should be consulted instead.

Letter requests are classified as NON-NHS work therefore, it is treated as a private transaction for which a payment/fee will be required.If you would like to request a letter, please complete the form below. Your request will be reviewed by a clinician, and they will decide if a letter can be written and what fee will be charged. You will then be contacted with their decision and at this point you can decide if you wish for us to proceed. 

The National Health Service provides most health care to most people free of charge, but there are exceptions: prescription charges have existed since 1951 and there are a number of other services for which fees are charged. Sometimes the charge is because the service is not covered by the NHS, for example, providing copies of health records or producing medical reports for insurance companies, solicitors or employers.

The Government’s contract with GPs covers medical services to NHS patients but not non-NHS work. It is important to understand that many GPs are not employed by the NHS; they are self-employed and they have to cover their costs – staff, buildings, heating, lighting, etc. – in the same way as any small business. In recent years, however, more and 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.

• accident/sickness certificates for insurance purposes
• school fee and holiday insurance certificates
• reports for health clubs to certify that patients are fit to exercise
• private prescriptions for travel purposes

• life assurance and income protection reports for insurance companies
• reports for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in connection with
• disability living allowance and attendance allowance
• medical reports for local authorities in connection with adoption and fostering
• copies of records for solicitors

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.

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 NHS time at evenings or weekends so that NHS patient care does not suffer.

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.