Gun users hit by GPs’ refusal to give reports

GAMEKEEPERS and farmers are being forced to pay for private medical checks to gain firearms licences after their GPs refused to vouch for them on ‘ethical’ grounds.

Killin Medical Practice in Perthshire has opted not to provide medical background reports as part of the Shotgun Certificate application process.

Those seeking a licence to own firearms must submit to medical checks to ensure they have not suffered any physical conditions, mental health problems or personality disorders in the previous five years.

But the newly-appointed GPs at the practice are refusing to provide the reports, which are shared with the police, saying they are ‘ambiguous and open to speculative opinion’.

The change follows the retirement last year of Killin’s veteran family doctor, Dr David Syme, who served the village for 34 years. The two doctors who remain partners in the practice decided to axe gun licence vouching, saying they were caught in ‘ethical tension’ over the issue.

Local gamekeepers, farmers, deerstalkers and foresters say they must pay up to £250 for copies of their medical records and private doctors’ fees to renew their firearms licences because of the GPs’ stance.

But in a joint statement, Dr Tara Mill and Dr Elizabeth Watson said: ‘We’re sorry that patients are unhappy at our current refusal to participate in the Shotgun Certificate application process. This could be seen as an obstruction to our doc- tor/patient relationship and be perceived as a lack of care. It is our commitment to provide best care and access for services.

‘We are caught in an ethical tension in our requirement to play our part in public safety and a want to provide complete services to all our patients but with an information request that lacks rigour. We feel that part of the system lacks robustness.

‘We are asked to provide information on “any physical conditions and mental health conditions”, as well as personality disorder in the previous five years. Personality disorder is a controversial diagnosis and “any physical and medical condition” is ambiguous and open to speculative opinion.’

Falcon Frost, a stalker at Glenfalloch Estate in Crianlarich, Perthshire, said: ‘An employer isn’t going to employ a gamekeeper or deer stalker without a valid certificate to undertake their work.

‘No one is against a small cost for this but some people are having to pay in excess of £250 for this on top of the fee for our certificates.

‘This is missing the point – your own GP is going to know best about your health and mental fitness more than going to see a private GP once to complete this process.’

A year ago the Home Office introduced ‘a safer system’ for firearms licensing in Scotland, intended to ‘improve information sharing between GPs and police, and reduce the risk of a medically unfit person possessing a firearm or shotgun’.

But a spokesman for the British Medical Association said the changes have presented problems to GPs. He said: ‘If a doctor does not have the relevant expertise to provide a medical opinion on personality disorders, they cannot be expected to include such assessments in their reports.’

‘Having to pay in excess of £250’