UK Class 1 Renewal Cost

[Okavango]

What are people generally paying these days for Class 1 Medical renewal? I've been quoted:


Aclass 1 renewal medical with ecg and audio, without lipid testing is £301.20 inc VAT.

Does this not seem a little expensive? It's almost the same cost as an inital?!

[Dufo]

AMC in Slovenia:
- 40 € AME general examination
- 10 € medical license issue
- 8 € ECG
- 55 € laboratory / urine and blood (hemo, sedimentation, sugat, gama st, ast, alt, lipids)

113 €.

Can be around 60 € if not done in this AMC (company related).

[RTN11]

It depends where you are in your cycle.

Every 5 years you need the ECG and whatever, and I would usually expect to pay £200-£250 for that.

The rest without it, I've paid anything from £50-£150.

[Loose rivets]

So why has it gone up 1,000% from my early days? Something to do with the fact my house went up 8,000% I suppose.

Type rating exam with the ARB. Three quid as well. Gross pay as a FO, for a time at least, would have purchased 1 1/2 detached houses in 1970.

Inflation, bad. Stability good.

When will folk learn money is a tool, and if you went into work every morning and all yer spanners were a different size, you'd rightly be pi$$ed orf.

Rant over.

[Whiskey Bravo]

I just paid £240 for an initial at NATS in Swanwick. Very friendly and helpful and took not much more than hour (as the nurse does most of the routine tests one after another instead of you having to go back to a waiting room), but I guess it depends where you need to travel from as to whether the saving on the medical is worth it. They have their own medical department for ATCO medicals and have just been approved to do Class I initials, think they have been able to do renewals for a while, but I don't think it is widely publicised.

[Gingerbread Man]

My Class 1 is up for renewal shortly. The last time I paid for one it was about £80 IIRC (with nothing extra like ECG to do). That was probably over six years ago however, as until recently they were done for free by the company I worked for.

What is a likely cost for a renewal? I only ask as the first place I called quoted more than twice the £80 I thought I spent last time. I know doctors don't work for free, but that struck me as a little steep. Is this the going rate now?

[BigEndBob]

Take £200, you may get some change!

[Gingerbread Man]

Jeez! I could very nearly rent a GP for an entire morning for that much! Hang on, that's given me a business idea...

Oh well, it will all be worth it one day when someone unexpectedly tells me my career is over. Yay! :}

[Radgirl]

I am not a GP but can't just leave them out to dry like this

So the GP has to pay for his building, business rates, and utilities. He then has to purchase the best part of 10000 of equipment, amortise it over 7 years, add servicing costs of 15-20% per annum. Then he needs a receptionist and nurse, and on top of salaries has to pay national insurance, mandatory pension and payroll. He has IT costs, professional, employer, buildings and legal insurance, fees to the CAA, mandatory study leave. A lot of this incurs VAT at 20% which he can't reclaim.

Sounds a bit more reasonable now

[Gingerbread Man]

As many a BBC news presenter will tell you (if they could hear my pointless ranting at the TV), I am not someone who likes GPs being given a hard time. My tone has obviously come across differently from how I intended, so apologies for that. I just wanted a reality check, given that the change in price from the last time I paid a renewal seems quite large. It's work that only a few people do and if the market dictates a certain rate then fine - I understand that.

I hadn't realised being an AME incurred so many extra costs though.

[darkroomsource]

If it has only been 6 years, and it was £80 then, it would mean that the prices have increased by 12% per year, which is high. I don't think inflation in the rest of the economy has been any where hear 12%.

So, either it wasn't £80 6 years ago, or the price hike is exorbitant, or (more likely) the tests and processes required have changed and the doctor is now required to expend more for the exam than before.

[BigEndBob]

If the doctors purely an AME he doesn't need much to ply his trade. I think the current fees are extortion.
Whats needed, a room, bed, chair, wall chart, height, weight scale, and ecg machine and few bits and bobs.
Money for old rope.

Can't now see the point of annual medicals.
I had one in April and in August had a heart attack.
No indication that was going to happen.

[darkroomsource]

don't let that out Bob, or we'll have to take medicals every month

[Gingerbread Man]

DRS, I can only assume I am wrong about the past cost, or that I was given some sort of young person discount that I was oblivious to.

[Radgirl]

Big End Bob

The AME doesnt determine that you have to have a medical. The CAA does. The AME merely facilitates it so you can ply your trade

Just as you cant just get in a plane and fly fare paying passengers, so a doctor cant just see patients in his bedroom. There are massive requirements including diasabled access, fire assessment etc etc. The rooms have to be inspected by the regulator CQC at massive cost a bit like an AOC.

I agree prices were much lower, but health inflation has been over 10% per annum for years. Many of these requirements were foisted on us by nice Mr Blair. Another cute one was effectively banning us sterilising instruments in small autoclaves so we had to use a third party....

I have no axe to grind on this matter, but every industry thinks they are the only ones being :\d by regulations / taxation / governments

[BigEndBob]

Certainly in the UK, some AME's operate from their homes, unless that practise has been banned in recent years.

[CathayBrat]

My AME is in a small room attached to the local flight school. He (and I) have no relation to the school, except its a useful room, which is set up well for the tests. His views on the CAA regulations re AME's are v amusing (language that would make a sailor blush!), and I feel he has a point. Once a year checks, heart attack next month, must be the AME's fault!
Oh well, mine is tomorrow, so we shall see.
P.s, not much change from £220 for class 1.


Another cute one was effectively banning us sterilising instruments in small autoclaves
Boiling them? Seems simple and it works, therefore we must ban it!!!!

[BigEndBob]

Time will tell how helpful AME will be having spent close £2500 over the years.

[fwjc]

Just had my class 1 renewal, it was £192 including vat. This also included an audio gram. My AME is not a GP, btw.

[OhNoCB]

It's interesting to see the differences in the cost. I pay £140 for mine, which is done in the AME's own home.

[mrowkoob]

Price vary for several reasons. Older AME´s probably got their training for free in the military or cheaply in 2-3 day private courses. Nowadays a complete Class 2 and then Class 1 training programme will cost you about £30.000 all costs included and it´s a 4 week training programme. Of course pilots ends up paying for that in the end.

Legislation has changed and it it no longer the CAA´s responsibility to sign off on renewals the medical responsibility rests solely on the AME. For example lets say an AME fails to notice a heart problem on pilot X and that pilot proceeds to crash a commercial plane in the Unites States. Then a law suit can be directed against that AME. Which of course means that AME´s nowadays has to be insured against lawsuits. At significant cost I might add. A cost that of course again ends up being sent on to the pilots.

I think you can expect that the cost of a renewal for a commercial class1 pilot will increase even more than we see now, just because a lot of older AME´s are still around and a lot of them do not realize the dangers of the changes in legislation.

EASA and thus the European Union has also passed a lot of new legislation putting more responsibilities and costs on the AME´s so expect a renewal to be in the pricerange of £500-800 (including ECG , hearing test and so on) within the foreseeable future.

[Radgirl]

Sorry mrowkoob that is nonsense

Doctors in the Uk have had to be fully insured for all medical care for many decades. Whilst the cost of insurance has risen it is primarily due to increased awards due to changes in civil law and related to hospital practice. General practice is lower risk and the risk of a pilot crashing is not even on the radar. In any case the insurance cost per medical is probably a pound

Changes in regulations may have an effect but your figures are excessive. Even if all the investigations demanded by some countries a few years back had been accepted, the increase would have been under £80 in the UK

There has been another thread about medical costs and I have posted the significant expenses an AME does incur, so there is no need to exaggerate these.

[Tyred]

Sadly your figures are way out, Radgirl. The MPS currently charge in excess of £3500 per year to indemnify AME work. These charges have increased by a factor of 600% over the last 6 years.

An AME would need to conduct 3500 medicals every year (!) for the cost of indemnity insurance to be £1 per medical as you suggest. The current cost of indemnity insurance alone is more like £30 per medical based on a more typical 120 medicals per year.

Not forgetting the substantial cost of annual appraisals, revalidation, GMC, membership of professional bodies, mandatory professional development etc. etc. that are ongoing (and ever increasing).

Money for old rope? Perhaps in the past. Nope, more like barely enough to cover one's costs these days.

[BigEndBob]

Surely this now puts more pressure on the AME when making a decision as to reinstate a medical. Think i might as well find another profession now.

[Radgirl]

Thanks Tyred

If you read my other posts you will see I agree with you about the significant other costs of running an AME practice. This post was about insurance.

MPS and other organisations tailor their premiums to each specific doctor, and also to their volume or turnover. They look at the doctor's accounts and charge a proportion. Many AMEs only do this work part time and have other medical jobs. The amount you have quoted is much more than many pay but there is no standard rate. Indeed as a proportion of turnover it is more than much more risky specialties. There are also other new companies offering much lower premiums.

[Tyred]

MPS and other organisations tailor their premiums to each specific doctor, and also to their volume or turnover. They look at the doctor's accounts and charge a proportion.

Sorry Radgirl, but your information is somewhat out of date. A few years ago, my indemnity provider abolished multiple income tiers for occupational medicine (under which aviation medicine is categorised) and instead brought in a single income band of £0 to £75,000. Whether you earn £75 or £75,000, you pay the same premium. No consideration of volume or turnover between these sums and a hefty penalty for those working part-time as an AME. I accept that many AMEs do other medical work, but quite a sizeable number of AMEs do not.

There are still only 3 indemnity providers of any size/repute in the UK. The one with the lowest premiums requires an applicant to have recently held an NHS consultant post in the specialty in which they intend to practice. Given that there are no NHS consultant posts in aviation medicine, that's not an option. If you know of any other providers, I'd be glad to hear of them!

[Radgirl]

I am afraid Tyred you have been caught by the strange premiums for occupational health. I know several other AMEs who have not! There are of course a number of new companies in the market and many doctors are moving over.

Anyhow, back on thread. The cost of being an AME is considerable and the prices charged for medicals IMHO are not unreasonable. However rumours of massive rises due to insurance or investigation hikes are just that.