Nimrod1960
Well-Known Member
Just picked up med cert for coterminus renewal , £90 !!!!
Me thinks surgeries taking a lead from police !
Me thinks surgeries taking a lead from police !
Med Cert Costs !
- Thread starter Nimrod1960
- Start date
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
Dare I say it - £ 15 for mine!
grandad of the woods
Well-Known Member
Oooooooo umm I wasn't charged for mine at all, must be purely down to the surgery descension.
M8 of mine was gonna get charge £80 and found an online company that charged £40 to get hold of all medical records
M8 of mine was gonna get charge £80 and found an online company that charged £40 to get hold of all medical records
£66 here, and delivered next day - very much depends on the individual surgery.
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Whitefront
Well-Known Member
Yes, it is purely at the surgery's discretion. It always was.
GPs say that nowadays they are so busy with NHS work that they are less likely to fit in private work unless it pays well. GP surgeries are private commercial businesses, even though they make almost all their income from operating an NHS contract. That NHS contract does not include medicals for certificates. It never did. Same for medicals for diving, flying, HGV, holiday vaccinations, ear wax removal, etc. These are all non-NHS work, so GPs can either refuse to do them or, if they do agree, charge whatever they like. And because GPs are highly paid, the value of their time, as reflected in their rate for a task, is correspondingly high - just like other professionals, such as lawyers. And of course, some GPs simply don't want any anything to do with shooting.
I have heard of GP surgeries charging £250. Worse, some agree and then take ages to do it, causing all sort of issues for renewals. At the moment, my own GP surgery is very good, charging a modest fee (£35) with a quick turnaround, but I suspect that most shooters will end up using third party services for medical verification in the near future.
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
One of my shooting friends has had the horrific experience of the surgery saying that he's an alcoholic and drug addict and is suffering from PTSD, none of which is true, still a awaiting an explanation and outcome.
Whitefront
Well-Known Member
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine told a locum GP, during an annual checkup, that he was feeling a bit down, but mentioned that his spirits always improved with a good day's shooting.
Later that day, armed police turned up at his farm office and confiscated his guns, in front of his secretary, workers etc. It later emerged that the locum (a youngster from a big city background) hadn't even put anything down in writing - just rang the police. It took him months to get his guns back, even though the practice's managing partner tried to help undo the mess the temp had caused.
Later that day, armed police turned up at his farm office and confiscated his guns, in front of his secretary, workers etc. It later emerged that the locum (a youngster from a big city background) hadn't even put anything down in writing - just rang the police. It took him months to get his guns back, even though the practice's managing partner tried to help undo the mess the temp had caused.
Well I don't suppose they've just made it up!
Either there's been a mix-up of identity, in which case it'll all be sorted out soon enough in your friend's favour, or there's a lot of things your friend hasn't told you about.
Whitefront
Well-Known Member
It almost goes without saying that if you do get a good medical verification service from your GP surgery, it's worth going out of your way to thank them. Might just help to engender goodwill towards the shooting community and help retain the service for others.
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
nun_hunter
Well-Known Member
I paid £50 for mine a couple of years ago and a friend paid £90 a few months after me due to "inflation". I think the only inflation was that they knew they could get away with charging more than £50 so put their fees up to just above Medcert etc knowing people would pay for the slightly quicker service.
Nimrod1960
Well-Known Member
But will the GP charge for supplying records ?
nun_hunter
Well-Known Member
As far as I'm aware it's a FOI request (you give Medcert your permission to ask and obtain on your behalf) so they must comply with it within 30 days or whatever the limit is.
What your paying for is the "interpretation" of your records by a professional to answer the questions the police ask.
Which is why if a GP charges more than £60 they run the risk of still having to get a copy of your records and send them off for free. Which may be a s simple as dragging and dropping into an email or could involved much more time collating everything to send off.
Nimrod1960
Well-Known Member
I have calmed down a bit now with West Mercia fee for coterminus renewal thats less than £1 per week to own guns and rifles.
I used ShootCert for mine as my Dr's surgery just won't do proformas. I think it was about £90, they were very good and had turned around my proforma only a few days after they recieved my records. I think they do offer a small discount for members of some organisations like BASC/CPSA/NRA
Another
for Shootercert. I took the surgery 35 days to comply with my SAR (Subject access request) when they’re legally obliged to do it in 28 days and Shootercert took 35 minutes to complete it when they’re legally obliged got the data. £75 through BASC membershipSimilar threads
