Requests from Private Providers Policy

Requests for blood tests

Lonsdale Medical Centre follows the following guidance regarding requests for blood tests to be done by a private provider.  If a patient has chosen to pay for private healthcare because:

1. their treatment is not available on the NHS or 
2. they do not wish to be treated on the NHS 

they are responsible for paying for all costs, including tests, and the private provider is responsible for managing every aspect of their healthcare (unless the patient chooses to transfer back to the NHS at a later date to continue treatment). 

For that reason, private providers should not be asking GPs to arrange any tests that they deem necessary, and intend to use, to make a diagnosis and recommend a course of treatment with. 

It is the private provider’s responsibility to arrange tests for patients whose care they are managing, and the patient’s responsibility to pay for them. 

Policy regarding requests from private providers to start or take over prescribing medication 

The practice reserves the right to reject any request from a private Specialist to prescribe medications on an ongoing basis. If the specialist wishes for a medication to be added to the patient’s repeat prescriptions, the same approach as per standard NHS guidance should be followed: 

1. Specialist writes to GP outlining the reason for the medication being initiated and requests it to be placed on repeat prescription AND Specialist issues a private prescription for 1 month (this allows a reasonable amount of time for a clinic letter to reach the GP practice and be processed). 
2. Patients who are issued a medication by a private specialist will need to pay the private prescription fee for that item. Requests to transfer private prescriptions to an NHS prescription before a clinic letter has been received will always be rejected. 

Requests to take on prescribing of the below classes of medications will NOT be accepted by the practice. 

• SC – Shared care
• SI – Specialist initiated
• SO – Specialist only 
• BL – Black listed medicines
• NR – Not recommended
• DM – Discontinued medicines 

The Practice may consider adding medications that are on the Kent and Medway approved prescribing committee formulary if they are not in the above classes. 

If a patient feels a medication in the above classes requires a prescription on repeat basis the following options are available: 

The private specialist continues to prescribe the medication for their patient

The private specialist arranges for care to be transferred to an NHS specialist and an NHS shared care agreement can be completed (please note this does not guarantee the GP practice will take on the responsibility of prescribing shared care medications purely that it will be considered). 

Screening Tests

Policy regarding screening tests carried out by private providers which have not been approved by the UK National Screening Committee 

The practice supports the national guidance which can be found here. 

If you choose to have private screening tests or investigations that are not available or recommended by the NHS, you should ensure that you have the funds or insurance in place to cover the costs of any additional treatment or investigation that is incurred as the NHS may not cover these.