Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of disabled people who are financially affected by charges for doctors letters and statements.

The Department does not hold data on the number of disabled people who are financially affected by charges for doctors’ letters and statements.

The General Medical Services and Personal Medical Services Regulations contain a list of statutory certificates that general practitioner (GP) practices are required to provide without charge. Practices are free to charge for the completion of certificates, forms and letters that are not listed as being exempt. NHS England and NHS Improvement expect practices to charge a reasonable sum, appropriate for the workload involved.

The Government recognises that there are concerns about some fees GPs charge for letters to certify a patient’s health. We are now undertaking a thorough review of levels of bureaucracy in general practice to streamline processes, free up valuable time to care for patients and to ensure consistency and fairness of charges for certification.