Fees for part-time medical services
December 2004
Introduction
This BMA guidance and its schedules provide advice to members who undertake or are interested in undertaking professional work not covered by their main NHS contract.
The BMA (through its professional fees, private practice and forensic medicine committees) negotiates a range of fees to cover many of these services and offers advice regarding how doctors should go about setting their own fees where the work is not covered by national agreements.
These agreements are listed in a series of fees guidance schedules; they relate to local and central government work, medico-legal work, insurance work and a wide range of reports, examinations and certificates for patients or third parties. They also cover areas such as cremation certificates, work for coroners and work as forensic physicians (police surgeons).
Charging for professional services
To determine the correct fee for any service:
- check in this guidance that you are entitled to charge a fee
- establish who is paying the fee
- consult the appropriate schedule(s)
- agree the fee - with the patient or the third party - before undertaking the work.
Members should always ensure that in levying a charge they do not have an obligation to provide the service without charge under their contract of employment or terms and conditions of service, or by statute - read more here.
If a fee is payable, by the patient or by a third party, it is important to establish:
- for whom the service is being provided. This will determine the level of fee, ie whether it is the subject of a national agreement, governed by statute or to be set by the doctor.
- why the service is being provided. A medical examination and report on an applicant for the fire service, for example, is subject to national agreement with local authorities, and the fee may be different to that suggested for a similar report requested by a private employer.
Where doctors charge patients directly for services, the BMA advises them to forewarn patients, before agreeing to provide services, of the likely level of fees, including the fees of other doctors who might be involved. Where the work is not covered by a national agreement, an estimate of the time it would take to complete the work should also be given.
Notes
- This membership guidance should not be treated as a complete or authoritative statement concerning fees paid for part-time medical services.
- Every effort was made to check its accuracy at the time of publication but there may have been later changes.
- This guidance applies generally throughout the UK; however, there are some important exceptions in relation to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Members should, therefore, contact askBMA for further guidance.
- Members may obtain additional advice or clarification from askBMA.
- This fees guidance was prepared by the BMA's professional fees committee secretariat; it was edited and produced by the publications unit.
- Printed copies of Fees for part-time medical services and the fees guidance schedules which supplement it, are available from askBMA.