- Posts: 51284
Medical report from gp
- Ben10
- Topic Author
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Gordon
- Offline
Ben10 wrote: Hi need a bit advice, my wife a needs medical report from her gp for an appeal for esa,the problem is that the 2 doctors that she always went to left last year and she got a new doctor who replied to the e50 form.she says that she was managing with the medication that she is on but that is not true,she didn't write anything about her day to day activites.we have now asked for another medical report but the practise manager is saying that they will only help us if they get asked for a report from the tribunal and we've been told that they do not do this from dwp,the dwp says that we should get the freedom of information act to get my wifes notes( do you know how much this would cost?) we are stuck in the middle of this please help
You have a legal right to access your medical records, it should not require any formal process such as a Subject Access Request to do so, a FOI for is for general information; not personal, have a look at the following
Requesting your medical records
Charging for medical records
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Ben10
- Topic Author
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Gordon
- Offline
- Posts: 51284
Ben10 wrote: Thanks, we feel that were getting mucked about as the practise manager saying that they can only release more information if they get asked by the tribunal and the dwp say that this doesn't happen. Do you know if that's true
Unfortunately, GPs are not required to provide claimants with support in the form of letters or reports when they apply for benefits, there is a legal requirement for them to provide reports for the DWP, I do not believe that this extends to the Tribunal Service, although I would be happy to be proved wrong on this.
To be clear, the above is very different from a claimant requesting access to their medical records under the Data Protection Act, the only reason that this should be refused is when a doctor believes that the information contained in those records would be harmful to the claimant, needless to say this is an uncommon circumstance. You can formalise the request by way of a SAR, but this really should not be required and can introduce an unnecessary delay as they can take 40 calendar days to respond to a SAR. I would advise you speak to the Practice Manager and remind them that you have a right to this information.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Ben10
- Topic Author
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Pipp
- Offline
- Posts: 128
From my experience in a similar situation I believe GPs are overwhelmed with everything else going on in NHS and are not able to provide the time required to assist in DWP benefit issues. They have to give access to your medical records though. They do charge for this, but there is a maximum amount, I think of £50.
When my GP of 30 years left and the new GP did not know the impact of my medical conditions I found lots of evidence in my records to assist and win my appeal. It was an afternoon of work sitting in the GP admin room, sifting through records going back to when I was a baby. Tedious and uncomfortable, but there was lots of useful information and so it was worthwhile.
Basically nobody will do it for you, so you have to be proactive and do it yourself.
Best of luck
PC
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.