Doctor''s Letter for School

I am decidedly unhappy with the treatment,lack of, that my son is getting from the GP. He is now in his third week off school. The school want a letter to explain the absence and the doctor wants to charge £35 for letter.
Should I really have to pay for this, and so much bearing in mind that it is the lack or treatment from the GP that is forcing him to have 3 weeks, at least off school.

I saw in another post your son has viral gastroenteritis so I''m not sure what treatment you expect he should be given.

The NHS doesn''t pay for GPs to write letters, and like most people they don''t work for nothing.

If he has had that nasty illness for three weeks, I''d have had him down to the hospital, my littlest had this a couple of years ago and after five days was hospitalised and put on a drip or she would have dehydrated - she was in for a week, and the hospital issued me a medical certificate free for nursery school.

With regards to the school - my partners dealing right now with an ex who has kept his daughter off school so much that her attendance is only 75% - schools are obliged to find out about prolonged or significant absence, and will have trigger points where they ask for medical certificates to prove absence, GP''s are entitled to charge for this - we just paid £50 for medical records...

I don''t know what treatment to expect, I am not a doctor. I was told can last up to 2 weeks but now in third week. He is very lethargic, sleeps 18 hours each day and is very dehydrated. The best NHS direct can can recommend is plenty of fluids but that is difficult if he is sleeping for 18 hours at a stretch.
The assessent of gastroenteritis was based on sticking a thermometer in his ear and prodding his stomach and saying there is a lot of it about.
No tests done but now in its third week the GP has ordered tests.
I am miffed because hw missed one controlled assessment already and now a GCSE practical test.
If I ask for a day off school I am treated like the the worst evit parent that there is but 3 weeks off sick is ok.
There was a post here recently of somebody who mananges 84 doctor''s appointmesnts in a year, one every 4 days. I am sure running a test to confirm the diagnosis could have been ordered earlier given that this apparently didn''t seem to follow the normal pattern.

James, your son''s illness must be very worrying. The thing is a virus can''t be treated with antibiotics, they have to run the course. All that can be done is to try and keep the level of fluids up to prevent dehydration. Dehydration powders can sometimes help or as in Emma''s case a drip, although normally healthy older children don''t dehydrate as badly as smaller children.

Unfortunately sometimes these things happen. Our daughter became ill with glandular fever at New Year when she was doing the Scottish equivalent of A Levels. She was ill for months, couldn''t sit her exams and then she had post viral syndrome and wasn''t well for another year.

A letter from the GP can be useful as evidence for the exam board should your son not get the grades the school expect.

Well that isn''t strictly true and I didn''t say I wanted any anti biotic for him. There are anti virals, although they seem to have a lot of side affects.
On Monday I took back to the doctor who still wouldn''t prescibe anything but arranged for a stool sample to be tested.
Phoned NHS direct on Tuesday regarding my concerns and was informed that viral gastro enteritis should clear after 3 to 4 days and bacterial in 5 to 7. Now bear in bind when he had been ill 7 days when the hospital said he had viral GE and it would last 2 weeks. So is it 2 weeks or 5 to 7 days?
He had now been ill for 19 days.
On Wednesday I took him again to the doctor who was incredulas at the NHS statements and the surprise that NHS Direct were concerned that the doctor hadn''t ordered blood or urine tests.
The doctor has now ordered a blood test and prescribed Clarithromycin which is an anti biotic for "chest infections" so goodness knows what is going on here.
I think he can wave good bye to any GCSEs so I am now pretty pissed off.
If I took him out of school for a day you can imagine the attitude of the school but he has now missed 3 weeks in the run up to his exams
d nobody except me gives a damn.

The only way, I''ve found, to get anything done is to keep going back to the doctors, weekly if necessary.

But in your son''s case I would be off to a & e cuz he''s been so unwell for so long.

Regardless of what the school says, your boy needs to get better anyway.

My son has had a chesty cough for about 3 weeks now, every other time I''ve taken him, I''ve been told he has a virus, so I am reluctant to take him this time, but as I haven''t caught it I will be ringing the docs on monday.