Problems with GP

Bruce Robinson wrote:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I will still write to my GP requesting a letter as there seems to be no guarantee the DWP will contact him and it would be useful for him to know more about my condition anyhow. I will also ask to see my medical records and decide whether I wish to demand that the DWP also look at them when I send in my ESA50. Depending on my GP's response, I will then decide whether any escalation is necessary.

On Mrs. Hurtyback's comments:

It is quite likely that my GP does not understand how the DWP operate especially with the new re-testing of people on IB. It's taking me a lot of effort to find out how they work and there seem to be a lot of grey areas. As for letter writing not being part of the NHS service, if he had asked for a reasonable payment to do it, I would have protested but paid if there was no alternative.

However my observation about my doctor being lazy was not based on this but my experiences when I have gone to him about other things where I have really had to fight to get him to do anything. The way he didn't let me finish what I wanted to tell him seems to me to be typical of the way he has dealt with me. I have also had bad experiences with the other doctor in the practice - a missed diagnosis of something serious - so just changing doctors within the practice does not necessarily solve the problem.

I believe on average a GP consultation lasts 7 minutes. I learnt recently that when making an appointment patients can request a double appointment, which may help with the lack of time the doctor has to listen to your medical problems and what you need to explain. It certainly helped in my experience.

M

I can add the following if it helps.

My GP will always (without fail) support any claim I make by writing a very detailed letter to include with my application. However, when he receives the form from the DWP (something I'm going through at the moment for the 3rd time). He strikes a line through the questions and puts 'not known'. Suddenly, my GP has supplied contradictory evidence against himself which the DM will use to reject the claim. When I visit him to explain what he has done, he then writes another letter with 'enter suitable excuse' and signs it off.

In private, he tells me the DWP are idiots who should accept the original letter he wrote claiming 'I don't have time to fill out stupid DLA forms all day'. One can assume all patients claiming DLA within his practice suffer the same fate.

So on one hand I have a GP who will support me and write detailed letters, but on the other hates dealing with the DWP. This has resulted in three tribunals where they believed all my medical evidence supplied by my GP was forged. Despite the tribunal requesting my medical records to visually see the GP's letters within the bundle, they have always rejected my claim. The same thing is about to happen again to me .
In my experience, I believe the most detailed letter a GP can supply at the first stage of the process is the completion of the small form the DWP request the surgery complete. Only then (assuming your claim is rejected) will detailed letters by the GP be of further use.

Hence on my other post I ask why the DWP still write to the GP when they have already given me a detailed letter to attach to my application. Something I'm now aware I should not have done ( 3 times and I still haven't learned ).

I saw my GP yesterday to ask for a letter to go with my request for appeal (DLA). He said he couldn't do one as the DWP will request a computer printout only. Pressing him he then said he couldn't write what I wanted as none of it is in my medical records and therefore couldn't be proved.

As a compromise its agreed I will see him every 4 weeks and he will write something onto his computer. (I think I might see him more often.) Just how the report of an unprovable symptom by me becomes believable and legitimate simply by being entered onto the computer beggars belief! "Computer says yes!"

I am assuming this to be the penalty of not bothering him over the last few years since I know he can't do anything about my M.E. Those who pester their doctor and are on his doorstep regularly and vociferously clearly have an advantage in the benefits system. I HAVE NOW LEARNED THIS LESSON!

Hi David, sadly you are wrong!

I bought a copy of my medical notes last year for my appeal. A lot of doctors put utter rubbish on the computer!

Luckily, the correspondence to and from the consultants was very useful.

Best wishes and good luck!
Rachel

David

I also have me/cfs & HAVE been pestering my gp for a proper diagnosis. unfortunately all he will say is that yes i probably do have it but as there is no definitive test for it he couldnt say definately & as i also have mental health problems bipolar/borderline personality disorder that so many of the symptoms mimic me/cfs & overlap its impossible 2 diagnose correctly. i have never been sent 2 c any neuro specialist or any other. i got a copy of my ESA85a form today & the decision maker had based the entire form on the ESA113 report my gp had sent which only listed my mental health problems. the only physical problems mentioned that could b linked 2 my me/cfs was exhaustion despite the fact he prescribes me strong painkillers, tramadol & 30/500 co-codamol that could knock out a horse for my joint & muscle pain. my psychiatrist was not written to at all for a report. its like being back in the dark ages when every1 thought me/cfs was all in the head. the ESA50 form i filled in was not considered at all either. im now thinking of appealing but i also feel, as a lot of others feel, maybe i should b grateful i even got ESA at all but in the wrag group, & not rock the boat by appealing 2 b put in the support group incase i loose the origional wrag award, & i should just count myself lucky. its such a confusing & frightening time for all disabled people just now.

i hope theres something iv said that an help you out.

martin

Hi Dave yes that is one way of putting it!

I can only go by what I have read on my own notes, maybe I've just been very unlucky!

Best wishes,
Rachel