Getting a report from a GP...

[SGirl]

Hiya,

Just wondering whether any of the kind PH massive can help me out with this one!

I need to take out life insurance, but the underwriters say they need a report from my GP before they can proceed. Fair enough.

My GP has been stalling on this report for 6 months now. My introductory 3 months of life insurance cover lapsed ages ago, and still there's no sign of this report. I've heard lots of excuses, I was promised several times that the report would be sent "tomorrow" or "next week", but still nothing. And just to complicate matters, I had to change GPs about 2 months ago because we moved house.

I've tried offering the underwriters contact with my consultant instead - nope, it has to be the GP. The GP is swearing he doesn't have the necessary information to hand and so can't write the report until the consultant has provided the details (which I believe were provided some time ago).

I've tried all sorts to get the GP to submit that report, but no go so far. (And apparently the insurers have been phoning twice a week for weeks, too.)

Does anyone have any idea of how to go about getting that report out of my GP? Or whether the underwriters would accept any other form of report? (I did ask, but they say it has to be a GP's report.)

If anyone has any good ideas on how to resolve this, please let me know. Thanks.

[turbolucie]

Have they already said there would be a charge for the service? If not, say you'll pay a private fee. They should be willing to do 10 minutes work for £80 or whatever.

[ulakye]

Insurance companies fall into two categories when requesting GP reports; most just use a bog standard form that a secretary can complete in 2 minutes and the GP can sign off while others use their own forms and request information the GP either doesn't have or can't give a professional opinion on. I suspect in this case the second option is going on. Although the GP may have requested info from a consultant for clarification, it is possible the consultant hasn't given the wording the GP needs to complete the form. I've known this happen on a number of occassions with no easy way to resolve. If the GP sends the form to the insurance company without enough detail they will likely bounce it back anyway.

By the way insurance reports are outside a GP's NHS terms of service so they can charge what they like for them. This shouldn't have any bearing on the speed it takes to produce the report.

[SGirl]

turbolucie said:

Have they already said there would be a charge for the service? If not, say you'll pay a private fee. They should be willing to do 10 minutes work for £80 or whatever.

Apparently the insurance company has already paid them for the report.

[SGirl]

ulakye said:

Insurance companies fall into two categories when requesting GP reports; most just use a bog standard form that a secretary can complete in 2 minutes and the GP can sign off while others use their own forms and request information the GP either doesn't have or can't give a professional opinion on. I suspect in this case the second option is going on. Although the GP may have requested info from a consultant for clarification, it is possible the consultant hasn't given the wording the GP needs to complete the form. I've known this happen on a number of occassions with no easy way to resolve. If the GP sends the form to the insurance company without enough detail they will likely bounce it back anyway.

By the way insurance reports are outside a GP's NHS terms of service so they can charge what they like for them. This shouldn't have any bearing on the speed it takes to produce the report.

Thanks for the detailed response.

Yes, you're correct to an extent - I know now that the GP does have the info he needs to complete the report, because I chased it up with the Medical Records Archive at the hospital this afternoon and also with the GP's secretary, and both sides have confirmed that the GP received the consultant's report that he needed at least two months ago. Since then, my prospective insurance company has been chasing up the matter but still no go.

I'm going to speak to someone at my new doctor's surgery on Monday to see if they could do the report (I wasn't going to ask them to, but the insurance company has already sent them a letter to request a report!), but I'm not holding my breath because they've never even met me.

I've got a 2-hour window on Mondays in which to speak to the admin assistant handling the matter at my old GP's surgery, so on Monday I'll give her a call as well and see if I can get anything sensible out of her.

Honestly! Anyone would think my old GP was being asked something difficult.