Private Doctor as "GP"

Hi all,
I am being migrated from IB to ESA currently, and am thinking who to put down as my doctors. My NHS gp doesn't have much knowledge about me or my condition (ME), not least because it is so hard to make an appointment with him, and when I do see him he has a 30 second attention span. I don't have the energy to run after him, which is what the NHS expects me to do. So my question is this, on the ESA form is it absolutely 100% necessary to put down your NHS gp as your "GP", or can one put down a private gp? Could I put down 2 private doctors as my "gp" and my "specialist" for example?

Many thanks

John Garcia wrote: Hi all,
I am being migrated from IB to ESA currently, and am thinking who to put down as my doctors. My NHS gp doesn't have much knowledge about me or my condition (ME), not least because it is so hard to make an appointment with him, and when I do see him he has a 30 second attention span. I don't have the energy to run after him, which is what the NHS expects me to do. So my question is this, on the ESA form is it absolutely 100% necessary to put down your NHS gp as your "GP", or can one put down a private gp? Could I put down 2 private doctors as my "gp" and my "specialist" for example?

Many thanks

Hi,

On page 4 of The ESA50, it states :

"Please tell us who your GP is. If you want to, you can also tell us about another health or care
professional who knows you and your condition best. Sometimes we will need to contact these
people to ask them for medical information. We do not do this for every claim."

So it does seem that they do require you to provide your G.P. details.

However below this there is also the option :

" Please give us the details of the care professional who knows you or your condition best. For example:

consultant or specialist doctor

specialist nurse

physiotherapist

occupational therapist

community psychiatric nurse

support worker or personal assistant

social worker."

Therefore, you could provide contact details of another HCP here, and stipulate that you wish them to contact this nominated HCP rather than your G.P.

You can download the current PDF ESA50 from the link on this page :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

bro58

bro58 wrote:

John Garcia wrote: Hi all,
I am being migrated from IB to ESA currently, and am thinking who to put down as my doctors. My NHS gp doesn't have much knowledge about me or my condition (ME), not least because it is so hard to make an appointment with him, and when I do see him he has a 30 second attention span. I don't have the energy to run after him, which is what the NHS expects me to do. So my question is this, on the ESA form is it absolutely 100% necessary to put down your NHS gp as your "GP", or can one put down a private gp? Could I put down 2 private doctors as my "gp" and my "specialist" for example?

Many thanks

Hi,

On page 4 of The ESA50, it states :

"Please tell us who your GP is. If you want to, you can also tell us about another health or care
professional who knows you and your condition best. Sometimes we will need to contact these
people to ask them for medical information. We do not do this for every claim."

So it does seem that they do require you to provide your G.P. details.

However below this there is also the option :

" Please give us the details of the care professional who knows you or your condition best. For example:

consultant or specialist doctor

specialist nurse

physiotherapist

occupational therapist

community psychiatric nurse

support worker or personal assistant

social worker."

Therefore, you could provide contact details of another HCP here, and stipulate that you wish them to contact this nominated HCP rather than your G.P.

You can download the current PDF ESA50 from the link on this page :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

bro58

Just to add,

If you do give a private doctor as a point of contact, they may charge you for providing reports for the DWP, whereas G.P.'s are contractually obliged to fill in and return any questionnaires/reports isued by the DWP, at no charge to the patient.

This is an : ESA 113 Questionnaire which is "Sometimes" sent to a G.P. the DWP do not have to contact a claimants nominated HCP, even if the claimant requests it.

This is why we advise that claimants gain their own evidence and include it with the ESA50.

Also, if your username is also your real name, you may wish to change it as the forum can be viewed by the general public, see :

My full name is showing, how can I stop it?

bro58