doctors charging for the monthly LL checks?

Heaven can wait

Silver Member
Hi there
Has anyone had to pay thier doctor for doing the monthly LL checks that we have to have? My doctor charged me £13 to sign the medical questionaire form, and I think I will be charged for the follow ups too. I know they are busy , but I have to take medications for BP and High cholesterol and as my need for these should fall with falling weight I would have to have these monitored anyway if I was losing weight in the conventional way.
Would appreciate any feedback on this.
X carole:confused:
 
Perhaps you could do a deal with them - maybe ask if they will stop charging if your BP goes down by 10 points - maybe agree a target. Also mention that you understand that they are entitled to charge, but that the programme already costs you a lot of money and that his support in the early stages would be useful. I offered to pa my GP and he said 'For what? Signing my name and taking your blood pressure? Don't be silly'
 
I have no health prob other than obesity, and had to pay £20 for my initial check up because, my GP said "It is a commercial business you are joining. I am obliged to charge you.". I understand they also charge for the 4 weekly check ups, so following advice on here now go to the local Lloyds.

Could you try that, then visit your GP for a regular (non-LL) check up when you need to assess any changes in your health?

Best of luck!
 
I always go to Lloyds Chemist for my 4 weekly BP tests - just go in, ask to have your blood pressure checked, then you fill a form in, just a few questions on it, then they check you and they get the pharmacist to sign it. Then they give you a copy of it - just hand that in to your LLC. Free of charge at Lloyds :)
 
My doctor would not do my initial check, had to go to a private hospital and pay £60. I got my blood pressure checked for free at Tescos! They were great, really helpful, really supportive, my doctor could learn a thing or two!
 
Grrrrrrrr! Doctors- GPs mostly- make me really cross. Comments like- you are joining a commercial organisation- where do they get off!? GP surgeries are just as commercial- every time they prescribe statins, xenical, reductil etc etc and they can prove that we have lost weight or our BP goes down they get a bonus payment from the NHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad:

So perhaps some of them are charging for certificates and BP checks because you have opted out of their systme and hence no more bonus payments for filling you full of drugs?????

Next time a GP tries to chrage you perhaps you should raise the bonus paymnet issue with him/her.

VV Cross now- hope no one at work says something stupid I might explode!:mad: :mad:
Kx
 
My doctor would not even sign the consent form. I had to go to another GP some distance away who did ... for a price.

After that I went to my practice nurse, who was lovely and did the checks and signed the form, for free.

I saw my GP a couple of days ago. She congratulated me on my achievment and said that I looked fab! I hope that this means if someone else sees her wanting to do LL she will now agree to sign the forms, now she can see how effective it is.

I think that in her case, she had never heard of LL and would not sanction something that she knew nothing about.
 
I find it soooo annoying that we are charged for the medicals to be done. I was being prescribed Xenical before I started LL, surely as I am no longer having them Im saving them money in the long run. I was charged £15 for my medical(which is reasonable in comparison to what others have been charged!)however I can go back for free check ups at anytime.My G.P was very much in favour of LL as a close friend of hers lost 3st.
 
The reason my GP surgery gave for refusing was that for the money we pay LL should be providing a nurse to do the medicals. They say that they cannot offer a NHS service to a private company and are also not sure of the point of the blood pressure checks.
 
my surgery is great! Although I had to pay £20 for my initial consultation they have been very supportive and do any additional checks for free. I am quite happy with that but wouldn't have been happy if I had to pay every time I went.

I was in today actually and the loverly nurse did my BP check, said I'm looking great and was supportive as always. I am really lucky here though, our service has always been excellent. I've lived here for just over 5 years, my husband had a cancer scare (only a scare turned out to be nothing thankfully), and we've had a baby and the care throughout has been great.

Mags
xxx
 
Hi

My Doctor charged me £30 for my initial check up and then had the nerve to ask me why my blood pressure was up! I was in there for 4 minutes.

Since then I have been to a local pharmacy that my counsellor recommended who does the check for free. I will buy him a present I think when I finish!

I wish I could think of responses quickly enough - I should have suggested to my Doctor that he reduce the fee as I will be saving the NHS £1000's by joining LL. I didn't think of this until afterwards though!
 
Hi

Luckily my local surgery has been great and I've not been charged for either my initial check or for my monthy check - in fact our practice nurse told me it was her pleasure to monitor me.

Try and get your nurse to do yours and you may not have to pay, and if you do then I'd go to Tesco pharmacy or LLoyds chemist in the future.

Good luck

Cath
 
I had to pay £30 for the initial medical and would have to pay probably to be mnitored but am going to get my woman who does my go referall scheme to monitor my bp. When I sa the nurse she was more concerned with whether I had my cheque book than on my health and was totaly unwilling to see that what I was doing because it was outside what they recommend! GP was more helpful, although said its not what she could advise understood why I would want to do it & couldnt come up with an alternative I hadnt tried! It does annoy me the whole charging thing as I've had zenical & reductil but as stated above they dont get their bonus cos they arent prescribing me sommat! Hope they dont get the bonus just cos I loose weight anyway!!
 
Hi

Luckily my local surgery has been great and I've not been charged for either my initial check or for my monthy check - in fact our practice nurse told me it was her pleasure to monitor me.

Try and get your nurse to do yours and you may not have to pay, and if you do then I'd go to Tesco pharmacy or LLoyds chemist in the future.

Good luck

Cath

Same here! My GP didn't charge me either. He was happy to do my medical and monthly check as he believes LL does work. I have another monthy check-up next week, this time with with our nurse.

My supervisor who is on CD told me that her doctor (who happened to be my old doctor) is charging her for the initial check-up! wow
 
I had to pay £50 for my original medical cos my GP refused to sign it GGGGRRRRRR!
Toatally worth every penny though, I go to Lloyds now :D
 
My GP told me not to start LL as it was an organisation that was out to make money out of vulnerable people (ofcourse she was all of a size 6). She wouldn't even sign the form! So I ended up seeing a doctor privately. I can't believe the attitude of some people sometimes (and these people are supposed to be professional). I'll have the last laugh anyway, I took control of my own destiny and did it anyway. Angela x
 
And how Angela- look at your fantastic loss! Nothing my GP ever gave me or suggested has given me this much weight loss even over a longer period.

I managed 3 stone by myself on Atkins (against GP advice), and now nearly 30 pounds on LL- the best Xenical ever did for me was 15lbs!- all of which went back on the minute I stopped taking it.

Here's to taking control of our own destiny- we can do it!
Kx
 
My doctor would not even sign the consent form. I had to go to another GP some distance away who did ... for a price.

After that I went to my practice nurse, who was lovely and did the checks and signed the form, for free.

I saw my GP a couple of days ago. She congratulated me on my achievment and said that I looked fab! I hope that this means if someone else sees her wanting to do LL she will now agree to sign the forms, now she can see how effective it is.

I think that in her case, she had never heard of LL and would not sanction something that she knew nothing about.

I reckon this is a shining example of adult thinking! I must say I don't think I would be able to be so gracious but then I've got further to go than you AJ along the path to rational thought!
 
Quote "I reckon this is a shining example of adult thinking! I must say I don't think I would be able to be so gracious but then I've got further to go than you AJ along the path to rational thought!"


Aw hun, thanks for that.

I do have a high regard for my GP, she's been very supportive with other matters and she is genuinely very pleased for me.
 
Sorry this is very long! - but it is the simplified version!

There has been a bit of discussion on this thread about GPs and "bonus payments" so in the interests of fairness I thought I'd try and explain how it works (warning: it's complicated!).

every time they prescribe statins, xenical, reductil etc etc and they can prove that we have lost weight or our BP goes down they get a bonus payment from the NHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad:

True up to a point but it's not quite that simple! A GP will receive a payment for a patient on their list who is basically slim and fit with no major health issues. Overweight people tend to develop more diseases (e.g. hypertension, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, strokes, depression, arthritis, urinary incontinence, acid reflux) than thin people so involve much more work per patient – for GPs and hospitals. If someone has, say, high blood pressure, a payment is made if the GP can prove that by treating this person appropriately with drugs they have reduced the blood pressure to a more acceptable level. However it doesn't matter if the practice has 10 or 1000 patients with high blood pressure - the payment is the same for getting 70% of patients to the target. Your GP doesn't get a sum of money just for you. The money paid also has to cover the costs of monitoring people e.g. blood tests, nurses wages, equipment. Thus you can see that if a GP is motivated by financial rewards, it is in their interests to have a load of patients who are slim and healthy and don't involve extra work!
Therefore why don't they sign our forms for free?! Good question. Well, it seems that many do. Doing LL medicals is not in the contract for the work the DOH say they should do so any GP doing it for free is doing it in their own time as a favour. I have to admit I would have been disgruntled if I'd had to pay but at the same time I know how many diets I've started over the last 12 years thinking, "This is it! I'm finally going to control my eating habits!" and I've failed every time. I suspect that for every overweight patient who suceeds in reaching and maintaining a healthy BMI there are very large numbers who lose a bit of weight then put it back on. (I have done that many a time!) It's not surprising some GPs are rather suspicious of yet another new diet they've not heard of. It must be said too that they get a huge number of requests to fill in forms for "extra services" so maybe charging is one way of limiting these requests.
My GP told me not to start LL as it was an organisation that was out to make money out of vulnerable people
Well LL do make a lot of money out of us and we are vulnerable. Maybe your GP had a patient who tried LL and it didn't work for some reason. I don't know what percentage of people who start LL reach a healthy BMI and maintain it but it's obviously not 100%. There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there who make money out of overweight people through diets which either don't work or are even harmful. I happen to be a fan of LL and I would hope that as time passes it will be highly thought of by the medical profession - it is working for me and I am really pleased that my thinking about food has changed.

I went to my practice nurse, who was lovely and did the checks and signed the form, for free.
I personally think this is only right and proper but technically she is providing a non-NHS service in time which is being paid for out of the GP's own pocket. "Hurrah!" I hear you say.:D

Hope they dont get the bonus just cos I loose weight anyway!!
Don't worry ISOM, they won't! They are supposed to record your BMI but don't get money for any reduction in weight. As for prescribing statins, xenical, reductil etc this is carefully monitored by government departments and if such prescribing exceeds certain limits (which might happen if the practice population is particularly unhealthy) they get less income! Another bit of good news for those who aren't fans of GPs is that their pay will be cut by 13% next year!
 
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