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GP.s and FAC renewals


newsatten

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Kent police seem to have jumped onto the latest reason to refuse a grant or renewal , failure of a GP to complete a form speculating on the mental suitability of an applicant ??

 Given the BMA has apparently advised GP's not to comment on such matters as they are not qualified to do so???

It raises the question how the f are these people and the rest of us going to get our tickets renewed without a very expensive consultation with a psychiatrist ! 

Has there been a change in the licensing laws? any other force's on this? 

My boss who's had his ticket now for a year, was contacted today by Firearms at HQ, and was told, if he got his GP to supply the necessary paperwork,( paid for if required) 

and paid the renewal fee they would issue him a new certificate and extend by 18 months,  ie 5 years and 8 months.......

Any one got any info on this? 

  

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“...our advice to members remains the same. Refuse to pay any fee demanded by the GP for responding to the initial patient record request. Should the doctor refuse to participate without money, point out to the GP that the police letter states that if no response is received within 21 days it will be assumed that there are no medical issues.

https://basc.org.uk/blog/press-releases/latest-news/basc-urges-members-not-to-pay-gp-fees/

l ignored my GP’s blackmail request. Result? FAC renewed with two new slots.

**** him.

maximus otter

 

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Had my ticket renewed in April , so im ok for awhile, and done the same 3 more slots and was given mods for all of them without asking!

However was in Wilson And Wilson's a week ago, and talking to Paul behind the counter he was saying they had a fair few new guns sold but grants and renewals were seriously being held up and some being refused due to the GP malarky ............

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It's just down to pure greed.

GPs don't think they're paid enough as it is, so simply trying it on to make a little extra on the side. 

IMHO (and I have a fair amount of experience researching this) I believe many GPs don't really go into the profession primarily for the welfare of their patients...it's now predominantly the prospect of over inflated pay checks with part time working that lures them to the job.

As Maximus correctly notes, unless the GP  informs the fuzz within the allotted 21 days of a specific concern they have, the FAC is granted. Innocent until proven guilty so to speak.

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51 minutes ago, newsatten said:

 they would issue him a new certificate and extend by 18 months,  ie 5 years and 8 months.......

Any one got any info on this? 

  

That part of your post sounds like they are attempting to spread the busy periods out

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You guys are lucky.

In Scotland you simply will not get and FAC or SGC granted or renewed unless the the police receive a response to the GP letter.

GPs are charging anything from £20- to £200 to complete the letter.

Remember that the HO Guidance is guidance and not law.

In Scotland they'll tell you (correctly) that the laws says the chief constable has to be "satisfied" that the applicant is  a suitable person to be allowed guns.  They then go on to say that the chief constable cannot be "satisfied" unless they have a response to the GP letter (pure BS of course)

Up until now, Police forces in England and Wales have followed the guidance, and applicants who have not had the GP letter returned to the police either because the applicant refuses to pay or the GP refuses to take part in the system have not had their applications refused.

However, many English and Welsh forces have been watching the "experiment" in Scotland and are beginning to try the same thing in their force areas.

The police can do what they like with this until there's either a judicial review of their policy or someone who is refused, challenges the refusal via an appeal in the courts

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

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This is an extract from the email auto-responder that comes from TVP;

Quote

Important GP Information -

On receipt of your application a letter will be sent to your GP telling them that you have applied for a certificate and asking them to tell the licensing authority of any concerns they have about you being issued a certificate.

If your GP does not respond within 21 days it will be assumed that they have no relevant information and your application will proceed.

However, if your GP requests that you pay a fee, your application will remain on hold until that fee is paid.  If the fee is not paid, it is not unreasonable for the chief officer of police to assume that there is information that may have an impact on your suitability and your application maybe refused.

There's also this line that urks me;

Quote

If you are notifying us of an acquisition or disposal of weapon/s please accept this email as an acknowledgement of receipt.

 

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I recently renewed my certificates and got this from my GP...

"We have recentiy received a letter from the police service re your application for the grant or renewal of a firearm certificate to yourself. The police ask us to go through your records to see if you suffer or have suffered from specific conditions which may affect their decision re issuing yourself a firearm certificate. They also ask to us to modify your patient record to show that you have such a certificate, and finally they ask us to notify them should you begin to suffer from any of the relevant conditions which they list.

As I am sure you can appreciate this takes a significant amount of time and resources and this is not covered cost-wise in any way through any of our usual sources of funding (principally the Department of Health) and is not part of the GP contract.

For this reason, we as a practice have opted to charge patients £50 for this service. This is in line with recent guidance from the British Medical Association.

Please respond to this letter in the next 7 days, saying if you are happy to pay the fee, in which case it will be passed on to a clinician and sent back to the police within 7 days. If you are not happy to pay the fee or do not reply within 7 days we will send a letter to the police service stating that we unfortunately cannot carry through their request and this may affect your ability to obtain a firearm certificate, though this decision rests entirely with the police."

I phoned them and said I was willing to pay and they said the letter would be prepared then I'd have to go in and pay and they'd send it. A week later, I'd heard nothing so I phoned again and was told I'd have to pay before they did it. I went straight in and paid and they said it would be done straight away. Another week later I saw my application was still not approved on the lincs police online system so I phoned the doctors to be told they hadn't done it but would get it done that day.

My application was nearly refused due to not receiving the letter I had paid for and was promised within 7 days.

 

I don't mind paying if they actually do what I'm paying for but they have no accountability if they fail to do it.

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19 hours ago, maximus otter said:

“...our advice to members remains the same. Refuse to pay any fee demanded by the GP for responding to the initial patient record request. Should the doctor refuse to participate without money, point out to the GP that the police letter states that if no response is received within 21 days it will be assumed that there are no medical issues.

https://basc.org.uk/blog/press-releases/latest-news/basc-urges-members-not-to-pay-gp-fees/

It would be useful if BASC would re-state its advice, as that page is dated August 2016

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My last diving medical cert 25 years ago cost me £50, and it took around 30mins to carry out the examination. (My GP is/was a diving MO).........

A flag on the record with the provisor that the GP contacts the police if someone presents with specified symptoms should be enough.

But once again, it's placing the onus on the GP, and you betcha, if he/she passed someone OK who then shot up a mall the next week, his/her career would be over..............

Worryingly, it looks like there's no way around this if the GP refuses because he/she doesn't like firearms..................unless you have a group practice with a partner who's OK with it.

In principle, the concept of psychological profiling before allowing someone access to firearms sounds sensible, but people's emotional states can change, often quickly, and like an MOT, the GP's assessment is only valid on the day.

It's just another attempt to be seen to be "doing something", and sadly, I think we'll just have to suck it up.................

Re-Pete

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Which is not too bad, although it'll add three weeks to the processing time.

I've always found Winchester office bods very pleasant people to deal with.

Re-Pete

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