Are doctor's practices now joining the DWP?

My brother has now near completed his ESA50 form ready for return, but doctor's have appeared 'reluctant' to supply evidence or support material.

Our family doctors have had some changes. All regular doctors who know my brother's history have either retired or moved on leaving only new and temporary staff. My brother visited the doctor's surgery to see if they could supply any evidence or a simple support letter (which has always been supplied without issue previously), but his request was met with a little resistance - advising that their procedure has now changed.

Their new procedure involves not writing any letters and only submitting anything if the DWP contacts them.

This is very concerning to me. In the past my brother's claims have been dismissed, leading to him being added to the WRAG group where due to his illness he will not attend work related meetings, leading to sanctions - months of stress until further evidence supplied for reconsideration put him back in the support group.

I would assume that without evidence the DWP will reject claims straight off. It seems backwards to me, for healthcare professionals to put unnecessary strain on patients especially when patients have certain mental disorders whereby stress and depression can lead to certain darker thoughts - as they have done with my brother previously.

The new doctor agreed in the end to write a letter of support but from previous experience unless support letters include very specific information I know they can carry no weight.

To make things worse, after a week or so of waiting for the letter (after being advised that the secretary would contact us once complete) the letter appears to have gone missing. On calling the surgery the receptionist advised that the doctor may have sent it direct to the DWP?

This could be terrible. Without knowing what what written it could potentially do more harm than good - especially giving that the doctor does not know of my brother's condition well enough. We have to call back on Tuesday to see if the secretary can shed further light on its location or whether it's been found.

In the meantime, I will have to carry on with my letter of support, hoping that it will carry some weight.

Kind regards -
BlueBear

More and more GPs are refusing to furnish claimants with letters for DWP. They are usually busy with the things they do have to do, with increasing paperwork and government interference. Many of them seem to feel that giving a fitnote should be enough and that DWP will contact them if they want further information. Of course, you and I know this is not the case!

The GPs that I used to work with felt that they were too busy to 'play games' with DWP. They don't realise that it is the patient who suffers as a result of this, not DWP

Everyone is entitled to view their GP records and take a copy of anything that might be helpful - although there will probably be a charge for this.

Requesting your medical records

Charging for medical records

I suspected as much. It's just unfortunate that it will be the patient who suffers. The letter may still be written for all we know. We'll just have to see how things pan out on Tuesday. We could still supply his old support letter as still relevant, I guess. Is it even possible to be placed in the support group without brand new evidence?

I think I'd queried in a previous post as to whether I can write a letter of support explaining my brother's condition. I see him on a daily basis so would be able to give examples of how his condition affects his day to day life. Do you know how this should be addressed, whether I need to include my address, email, telephone number etc?

Kind regards,
BlueBear

Hi B, just to offer you perhaps some hope. In 2012 I sent in a full consultants Report, which I felt was amazing. I was awarded 2 yrs in SG.

This time, however, along with my ESA50, I sent in 32 continuations pages of the questions on ESA50 along with anything and everything I could find in my medical records that supported the declarations I made.

Copies of my medical records along with working through the B&W manuals saw me given a 3year award in the SG.

I felt I had nothing to lose in just bombarding them with every bit of ammunition I had, regardless of how big or small and I even got 15 points for one question on part two of ESA50.

Hope this might be of encouragement for you.

Kind Regards and good luck

P

Do you know if it's possible that support material supplied by doctors can harm your claim?

The reason I ask is, whilst doctors initially seemed reluctant to supply support material, in the end, they agreed (thankfully).

My brother's doctor supplied a letter verifying that my brother's condition hadn't changed since the last time he was assessed (which is good, as he was placed in the support group in the end following a reconsideration).

My brother's psychotherapist also provided a letter. But... This is where things go downhill slightly. Not that the letter is bad, it's just, well... too positive (in my opinion). My brother has various mental illnesses included depression, OCD, he suffers with anxiety, and will shortly be tested for Asperger's once his appointment comes through. And my brother's psychotherapist is a VERY positive person (if not a little naive in my opinion on the DWP's practices). He states that my brother has been given various tools to try and handle life generally (which isn't too bad), and then near enough says that his battle isn't over yet (also good).

But at the end of his letter, he states that with the right care and support he is hopeful that my brother might be able to one day be able to work and face life.

My concern is that the DWP will see this as evidence that he is ready for the WRAG. I know that he is not. And I also know that they do not have a system whereby someone with my brother's state of mind will be able to calmly test to see if they are able to work, with no pressure nor expectation. I do not think my brother's psychotherapist understands how the DWP work.

As a result, we are thinking of NOT including this letter. My brother will have old doctors letters, a new one backing them up, a letter showing his referral for Asperger's testing , and my support letter.

I just think it's possible that the psychotherapists letter may be completely misinterpreted by a system that will stop at nothing to be not understanding as it is without any help.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Kind regards,
BlueBear.