how do i ask a medical pro for a a report

like if i ask them how it affects me?i read somewere that i must produce the letter i sent them incase they copy it,does that make sense that question?

Not much!! Lol.

You can ask your GP or consultant or therapist etc. to provide supporting evidence for what you write on your claim form.

If you write to them keep a copy of the letter in case it is asked for by the DWP in any hearing or MR etc.

thomasnireland wrote: like if i ask them how it affects me?i read somewere that i must produce the letter i sent them incase they copy it,does that make sense that question?

How do medical professionals usually find out what is wrong and how it affects your functioning? You tell them the physical/mental symptoms and say something about how it is affecting your life (unless, for example, you are in a coma or have had a stroke that affects speaking).

It seems to me that the difference between this and what you need for claiming a benefit is that you'd probably just give the doctor a couple of examples, not a comprehensive list, as that is all they need for diagnosis and treatment. So I wonder why the DWP expects a doctor to be able to address all that is needed for a benefit claim - a very time consuming activity which takes time away from actually treating patients.

What is an efficient way of telling the doctor all the ways your life is affected? Give them a written list? How does this differ from saying these things and the doctor writing them down?

The doctor would probably not write all of it down, or could make some mistakes, and appointments are short, and this is not what they trained for - I think it is an abuse of their time, and it puts doctors in a difficult position.

It could be said that the DWP are expecting doctors to use some of the NHS budget to do the work of the DWP. By making the assessments so incredibly complicated, the chances are that a doctor will not be an authority on these benefits and so the DWP will be able to say that the doctor did not write about xyz, therefore the claimant does not have xyz, so the patient will not be awarded the benefit. This is clearly not logical.

It looks to me as if assessors and decision makers have been told to make liberal use of words like 'therefore' and 'evidence', and the phrase 'there is therefore no evidence'. In the documents I have seen they even use these after referring to a part of the evidence to the contrary, as well as after ignoring the evidence in front of them.

What doctors could contribute is whether the things the patient says are likely problems for someone with those diagnoses, or anything they have observed themselves, or technical language. The easiest way for them to deal with this is probably by looking at what the patient has written down, I would think. There is nothing wrong with this - it makes no difference whether the patient speaks or writes, other than writing being more efficient.

The patient is the best source of information about how their life is affected (or perhaps their carer). The NHS runs the Expert Patient Programme, which acknowledges the role of the patient.

I think the DWP are trying to make out that there is something dishonest in the doctor having a written list or description from the patient. They are not giving doctors credit for exercising their own judgment - so if a doctor is satisfied that what the patient wrote is true and they use what the patient has written, the DWP seem to be implying that there is something dishonest in this.

I think it is revealing that the DWP are so keen on making out that everyone else is dishonest. And why is it that we have to go through the whole appeal process for the medical evidence provided by NHS staff to carry any weight over the word of a highly paid HCP who has written an appallingly 'flawed' report?

So, to come back to your question, thomas, if you go to your doctor and ask them how your illness or condition affects you and how you function, they may say that you are the only person who can answer that in the comprehensive way the DWP expects.

Like you, I am stuck in this baffling, infuriating and callous system, so what I write is just my opinion, and no more than that.

But I wouldn't worry about this - there is nothing dishonest in you giving your doctor information about your health problems and how they affect your life, whether spoken or written - it is what we do when we see a doctor.

The DWP just keep asking for more information than your doctor needs for treating you, and then they look for ways to say the information doesn't count - like trying to make you feel there is something wrong with giving information to the doctor so that they can address the questions the DWP ask.

You are the person who knows best how your life is affected, and your word is every bit as valid as anyone else's. Just write as clear a picture as you can of how your life is affected, relate it to the points system as well as you can, and keep reading the documents on this website and asking about anything you need to on the forum.

See wp.me/p1BO2C-mdg for 3 helpful documents for your doctor

Best wishes.

Sorry - just found my link didn't work. So try this:

blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/11/21/imp...cuments-for-your-gp/

Thank you for these two important points, Gordon.
I see now that '2012' is there in the link.