Doing the Etap du Tour next month and need to get a medical cert signed by a doctor. My local surgery is probably typical of most up and down the country in that you can’t get an appointment for love nor money so wondering if anyone has done this recently and if it is one of those ‘standard’ services you can just pop the cert into the receptionist and pick it up a few days later…or get an appointment with the nurse instead of a doctor? Its a waste of time calling the surgery to ask because it’ll be constantly engaged and you have to sit there for an hour pressing the redial button before you get through.

It’s something you will be charged for

Does depend on the doctor/practice. We did the French Divide last year and needed the medical disclaimer/certificate. Just rocked up at the surgery, the receptionist checked our details against their records and put our request on the appropriate doctor’s todo list. A week or so later we went back and picked up the certificates and paid whatever fee (£20 from memory). Neither of us were actually “seen” by either a doctor or a practice nurse.

Our daughter had to have one for the French round of the EWS. Family doctor did a thorough examination and cost us £52.

My son used a private doctor.

I had to get one for this year’s Enduro 2 race in France…
Seen by local doctor it cost £30ish.
Have since had an email from the event organisers saying due to a change in regulations we can now self certify for this event… might be worth double checking this for your event.

They’re valid for a year once issued, so in the future it’s worth getting one done if you’re in the doctors anyway. Otherwise use someone like sportmedicalcertificates.co.uk if you don’t mind paying a bit and want convenience.

I needed one for 24Hr Le Mans a few years ago, thorough checkover by doctor plus interview/chat on how much riding i did.  £40 on pickup of certificate about a week later.

The LeMans organisers were very thorough about checking it for those without a French racing licence (medical check is standard part of achieving this I think).

Thanks, sounds like it should be simple enough. Don’t mind paying.

Firstly this is not NHS work so of course they will charge. And because it’s additional non-NHS work they are perfectly entitled to decline it. General Practice in the UK is on its knees due to shortage, underfunding and increased demand. It seems ‘see your GP’ is the default for many organisations- often for issues that have little to do with medicine.

However many doctors will simply not do this. Because so many of these forms are actually trying to deflect the risk, liability and responsibility onto the doctor.so the How can you determine if someone is fit for an event? Especially if you have no experience in the area. To determine if someone is ‘fit’ (whatever that means) takes time and requires an examination l, as well as an understanding of what the event involved. This takes considerable time, before, during and after the consultation – try seeing what a solicitor charges for 30min

Some forms simply ask for a confirmation that you don’t have certain conditions or illnesses, so these can be imported from the notes. Again this requires time to review the notes and complete the form.

It really isn’t as simple as ‘just signing a form’. If an event requires a medical then it ought to supply a list of providers who can do this and not expect the GP to pick it up.

Just make one up yourself, it’s not as if anyone is actually going to check.

^^
That.

Some people go to their GP for them although understandably doctors hate doing them partly for the liability aspects and partly because they’re just too busy. There’s that sportsmedical certificate website which has a nice line in profit for the sake of some box ticking which is essentially you self-declaring. Or there’s the third option which is just to fake the form.

Do you need a medical certificate or will a race license do instead? I’ve done events in the past where this was the case, so I bought a BC membership and license (you get a provisional license with some grades or pay more for a UCI one, depending).

Figured the docs would charge anyway so may as well bung the money at BC and get other benefits too.

We’ve got away with a BC licence for 24hr races in Italy. They have a medical check to get the licence in Italy so just assumed UK license was the same.

I’ve no problem with GPs charging for the service, but in previous enquiries they’ve been more than happy that you are doing things to stay healthy (costing them less time and money in the long run). They are actively funded for every over 40s health check they do, so maybe book one of those and then offer to pay for a letter based on the findings?

Nobody is asking Doctors to take liability – it is a factual statement of current basic health.

All of what @tomj and @FunkyDunc said.

As per comment above ref E2, self certification is available for that event. Seems to be due to change in French legislation so may apply to others?

Last year I printed off the generic template and politely asked my GP to sign it whilst I was attending an appointment for an unrelated issue. Few questions from the Doc and signed and stamped nae bother.

Although the staff weren’t exactly scrutinising the forms at sign on in Annecy last year… several thousand people to get through and all that.

As above. Generic template, creative header, sign yourself. Various friends for loads of French races over the years have all done this & never questioned.

I needed one for the Paris marathon. My doctor said their insurers wouldn’t allow it.

I forged one, worked fine.

Yes forged a few in the past.

Now back living in France, I get some done yearly.

We need a signed doctors form for the Mega.

Initially the doctors receptionist said we can sign it for £15, then they said you need to see the doc, as how can he sign off that your fit and healthy. He took my blood pressure, checked my breathing, prodded my belly and that was it.

Then 2 weeks later said they’d lost the form so they waived the fee due to the delays.

My local GP wont do it. Seems odd to me. I don’t expect them to sign me off as being fit to do the event…but at least they should be able to determine you’re not on deaths door and your vital signs are not so poor that you can’t do the event. The risk is always with the individual and superfit highly trained athletes who’ve had proper and thorough medicals drop dead suddenly when doing tough events form time to time, so is impossible for a doctor to say ‘You’re fit enough to do the event’ even after a thorough medical. I’d have thought that in an environment where funds are tight stuff like this is a quick and easy way to earn a bit of extra income…a 20 minute vital signs check and sign off a cert. But anyway, not going to moan too much about it, just need to find somewhere who will do it….or just forge it. It’s only so the organisers of the event can tick a box and push risk onto the participants for the purposes of their own insurance.

It’s something you will be charged for

Not necessarily. Though it does help if your GP happens to also be a keen cyclist.

As many GPs are working 12 hour days this is the last thing they should be doing especially where some patients are having to wait 6 weeks for an appointment. I agree with tomj.

My son is with BC, he needed a doctor’s certificate for a sportive in France and needs one again for one in Italy. It’s no big deal for him to see a private GP for essentially what isn’t a medical matter.

Your GP may or may not do it, but PLEASE don’t try to book a standard appointment to request it.
Ask the receptionist to see if a private appointment can be made for you with a GP.

Yes, you’ll pay ££ for it, but that’s because it shouldn’t be done in ‘NHS time’.

Also, the letter is unlikely to say the words “Mr X is fit for this event”, but more than likely to just highlight all your health issues, and a signature to confirm the facts.

DrP

Also, the letter is unlikely to say the words “Mr X is fit for this event”, but more than likely to just highlight all your health issues, and a signature to confirm the facts.

There’s a template form on the event website with a specific phrase, something about “there are no contraindications….” They state that nothing else is acceptable.

We just downloaded the form, forged it and handed it in. They barely even looked at it, never mind filed it properly. It just got turned over and put on a massive pile at the back of the signing on tent.