Medical evidence for insurers when illness or injury forces you to cancel a trip or event.
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Travel insurers and event organisers almost always require medical evidence before paying out on a cancellation. Most policies also require you to have been assessed before the departure or event date.
Same-day appointments are usually available, which matters when a policy has a deadline.
Most policies require assessment before departure. A letter written weeks afterwards is frequently rejected.
Many have their own and will not accept a generic letter.
Within about ten minutes of your consultation.
This is the single thing that determines whether a claim succeeds. Most policies require you to have been medically assessed before departure or before the event.
An assessment on the day you cancel carries real weight. A letter written a fortnight later describing how you felt at the time carries much less, and some insurers will not accept it at all. Appointments run 6am to 10pm, seven days a week, precisely because these deadlines do not wait.
Many will not accept a generic letter, and several have a specific medical certificate with their own questions. Send it in advance, along with the policy wording if you have it.
We cannot backdate an assessment to a date you were not seen, and we will not certify an illness there is no evidence of. Both are forms of fraud, and both would be discovered at exactly the point you needed the letter to hold.
We can only write about someone we have seen. If you are cancelling because a relative is ill or has died, the evidence has to come from the clinician treating them, or from a death certificate.
This is what most often defeats these claims, and it is worth understanding before you pay us.
Insurers routinely ask whether the cancellation relates to a condition present before the policy started — and to answer it they usually want records from the practice holding your history. We do not have access to your NHS record. A letter from us covers what we assess and what you tell us, and where an insurer wants a full history, it may not be sufficient on its own.
Foreign Office travel advice, airline schedule changes, visa refusals and an operator's financial failure are policy questions. A doctor's letter has no bearing on any of them, and buying one will not help.
The letter can only state what the GP genuinely assesses and what your history supports. We cannot backdate an assessment to a date you were not seen, and we will not certify an illness we have no evidence of.
Whether a claim is paid is the insurer's decision, not ours.
Many policies require notification within 24 to 48 hours of cancelling, and the claim itself within 28 to 31 days. Missing that window defeats an otherwise valid claim.
Most insurers require this and will deduct anything you could have recovered elsewhere. Airlines refund taxes and charges even on non-refundable fares; many venues and event organisers have their own medical refund policy; some hotels will waive a charge on medical grounds if you simply ask.
Ask before you claim. It is often faster than the insurance, and it is money the insurer would have subtracted anyway.
That is a different section of the policy — medical expenses and curtailment. Ring the insurer's emergency line before incurring costs where you can, since most require prior authorisation, and keep every receipt and report.
Where the refusal is about the wording or completeness of the medical evidence and we can properly address it, send us their reasoning and we will correct the letter at no charge. Where it turns on a pre-existing condition or a policy exclusion, that is a matter for the insurer and the Ombudsman rather than for a doctor.
You cancelled because you were unwell. Come back if it is not settling — the letter is administration, and the illness is the thing that actually matters.
The commonest reason these claims fail is the pre-existing condition question, and we should be honest about it. Where an insurer asks whether the cancellation relates to a condition you had before the policy started, they will usually want records from the GP practice that holds your history. We do not have access to your NHS record, so a letter from us covers what we assess and what you tell us — it may not be sufficient on its own where the insurer wants a full history.
We can only write about someone we have seen. If the cancellation is because a relative is ill or has died, we cannot certify their condition, and the insurer will need evidence from the clinician treating them.
What is not a medical matter: Foreign Office travel advice, airline schedule changes, visa refusals and financial failure of an operator are policy questions, not clinical ones, and a doctor's letter has no bearing on them.
Book before you travel wherever it is possible. An assessment on the day you cancel carries weight; a description written a fortnight later of how you felt at the time carries much less, and some policies will not accept it at all.
That is entirely the insurer's decision, and no letter guarantees it. What we provide is the medical evidence they ask for; what they do with it is governed by your policy.
We can write about what we assess today, and we will say honestly when you were seen. What we cannot do is backdate an assessment or certify how you were on a day nobody saw you.
Most policies require assessment before departure, so a retrospective letter is frequently rejected. It is sometimes still worth having, particularly with corroborating evidence — but go in knowing that.
Overwhelmingly for two reasons: no medical assessment before the departure date, and the pre-existing condition question.
The third is missing the notification deadline, which is often only 24 to 48 hours.
Broadly, anything you had, had symptoms of, or were being investigated for before the policy started — and insurers interpret that widely, including conditions that were never formally diagnosed.
We cannot resolve that question for you, because we do not hold your NHS record. Where an insurer wants a full history, it has to come from the practice you are registered with, usually by subject access request — free, with a one-month deadline.
Not about them, unless we have seen them. The evidence has to come from the clinician treating them.
We can write about you where your own health is part of it, and many policies do cover cancellation because of a close relative's illness — but with evidence about that relative, not a letter from your doctor.
Yes, and send it in advance. Many insurers will not accept a generic letter, and their form asks specific questions — first onset of symptoms, first consultation for the condition, whether it was pre-existing.
Some of those we can only answer from what you tell us, and the form will make clear which.
Usually the same day, 6am to 10pm, seven days a week, with the letter issued within about ten minutes. That is deliberate — these deadlines are short and inflexible.
Yes, more than most people realise, and it is worth asking before you claim. Airlines refund air passenger duty and certain taxes and charges even on non-refundable tickets. Many venues and event organisers operate a medical refund policy. Some hotels waive a cancellation charge on medical grounds when asked.
Insurers pay the irrecoverable loss, so anything you recover directly is money they would have deducted anyway — and it usually arrives faster.
Yes — the same principles apply. Universities and awarding bodies generally have an extenuating circumstances process with its own form and deadline.
Check that deadline, since it is often only five to seven days after the exam, and send us the form if there is one.
No. It is fraud, it is a criminal offence for you as well as a GMC matter for the doctor, and insurers investigate these more thoroughly than people expect.
The letter says what the assessment establishes.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Mohammad Zubair Khan, GMC 7563469
Last reviewed
August 23, 2026
On this page
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
Yes, your full record
Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
Varies by provider
Often a subscription
Same-day access is usually available, from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. You choose a time that suits you rather than waiting on hold at 8am.
Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
No. We are not here to replace GPs, only to support them. Your NHS practice remains responsible for your ongoing care, and with your consent we write to them after the consultation. We are useful when you need to be seen sooner, or want more time than a standard appointment allows.
Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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