FAC/SGC medical request

[Lead-Fouling]

I happened to have a copy of the letter my GP received when I applied for my SGC grant some years back, the wording may have changed since then but I doubt it. For your interest I decided it'd be worth posting.

I write to notify you that the person above has recently been granted or had renewed a firearm and/or shotgun certificate. This means that they may have more or less immediate access to firearms and ammunition.

This notification has arisen from an agreement between the police service and the British Medical Association.

http://bma.org.uk/practical-support-at- ... s/firearms

If the grant/renewal causes you to have specific concerns for the safety of any person; including the certificate holder then you are invited to make these concerns known to me so that they maybe considered by police. If this is the case I would be grateful to receive your response within 14 days.

I must certify that I am not asking you to advice whether a certificate should be granted or not. That responsibility lies entirely with the police.

If you do not consider that you need to contact me, then the agreement with the BMA includes that you do not need to retain this letter for future use and show now dispose of it confidentially.

Yours sincerely

Firearms Licensing Manager

Interestingly it says the agreement is with the BMA the union for doctors and not say NICE who would produce guidelines for doctors. More interestingly there is no such agreement! Simply the BMA have issued their opinion on how to handle the matter (i.e. ask for payment from the police if you need to do any work).

Further to this, the BMA have made clear in the absence of an acute need to respond i.e. it's clear you pose a real immediate risk, the doctor should seek your consent as the letter fails to make clear consent has been already obtained.

Most importantly there was no letter from my GP to the FLD.

I'd imagine the most prudent way to move forwards if you're concerned about your application is discuss with a GP if they would feel the need to contact them, effectively "do you think anything on my medical records is relevant", to word this tactfully I would say "because it's asking me what to include". This is a normal request when people apply to the DLVA. Then if the GP either discloses something to the FLD that was not mentioned to you, without seeking your permission first you can complain and the GP would be in hot water with the GMC.

This is because while you gave consent to the FLD to contact your GP you did not give consent for your GP to disclose anything. Unless you're a raving lunatic it would not be acceptable for them to disclose ANYTHING without your permission. If you do not give permission your GP will need to disclose that you refused consent but not why or regarding what.

[Gaz]

Useful info, thanks for posting.

[rcaudwell]

I'm a GP and happy to respond to any questions around this. My current practice is letters informing me that Pt A has a FAC/Shotgun cert require no action unless I have ground to believe they have a medical condition which has a bearing on things. I'd always seek consent from the patient before disclosing anything, unless I have reason to believe a "serious crime" has, or may take place, in which case I can break confidentiality.
Interestingly there's talk of us having to start responding either way to these letters (is no reason for Pt A not to have a licence) and potentially start doing medicals. Neither of these are an NHS service and the police have stated they're not prepared to pay, so at a bit of an impasse. I believe Nottingham constabulary sent letters to GPs of everyone with an FAC recently following some sort of "incident". Most of my colleagues ignored it as it was unfunded work, and it is not our remit to judge fitness to hold a licence.

[rcaudwell]

PS NICE do clinical guidelines only (is treat condition y with drug X) . Confidentiality rules etc are the remit of the GMC (General Medical Council) who are our regulatory body. The BMA is our union, who will advise on how to comply with the GMC rules

[Mattnall]

And then GPs refuse to inform the DVLA if a licence holder is/becomes unfit to drive, the onus is on and that information is for the driver to disclose.

The car is the biggest and most dangerous weapon that anyone can get their hands on.

[SevenSixTwo]

...and it is not our remit to judge fitness to hold a licence.

^ This.

My GP doesn't know me from Adam anyway ~ so who is he to judge? And, what if he's a liberal / anti?

[Blackstuff]

When this political football was being kicked around during the inquiry following the Cumbrian shootings i sent a letter to every GP in my surgery to ask them their personal opinion on firearms/legislation. Despite including SSAE's i only got one response (Who said they thought the current level of retriction was about right, it didn't need tightening). One other GP rang me to say they wouldn't be filling it in as they "didn't know how the information would be used", despite the fact i specifically said it would be for my own purposes only and no specific doctors opinion would be revealed under any circumstances. None of the other 7 GPS's bothered themselves at all.

Needless to say i switched surgeries as soon as i could.

[Rockhopper]

When my FAO came round for my home visit he told that they always write to your GP but that the GP very rarely responds. If they hear nothing then they take that as meaning everything is okay!

[rcaudwell]

In response to points above:-
1) re DVLA , if I know someone is driving that shouldn't I have to advise them to contact DVLA. If they don't I can (and would) break their confidentiality and do it myself. I would tell them if done it.
2) Writing to GPs to ask their opinion on specific (non medical) things will rarely get a response. I work 11-12 hour days and am swamped with clinical work. I'd have replied as I share an interest with you, the vast majority of my colleagues don't. I've had requests to give opinion on vitamins, mobile phone masts etc etc in the last couple of months, unfunded work and stops me doing patient care so they go in the bin I'm afraid.
3) if there is no concern around an individual, the letter we get states to ignore it and destroy (for now!), so they are correct, if they don't hear it officially means there are no medical concerns.

[rcaudwell]

...and it is not our remit to judge fitness to hold a licence.

^ This.

My GP doesn't know me from Adam anyway ~ so who is he to judge? And, what if he's a liberal / anti?

As the law stands, I could only give a statement of fact on any medical diagnoses of an individual applying for a licence (when I get letter off plod). There are moves to make GPs more involved in the process , which will fail as it's not NHS work, so would attract a fee (which the police aren't prepared to pay, although I'd imagine it'll then fall on the applicant). I (and any other right minded GP) would only ever give a factual statement regarding any conditions an applicant suffered from (with law re consent etc respected), never an opinion on fitness to hold a licence. So even if anti/liberal they shouldn't be able to scupper anyone's application.