Hosp appointment letters

Helllo,

I am a new subscriber and have been working through your very insightful guides to help me move from IB to ESA.

I am in the process of completing the claim form for ESA and my query is this:

- Is it advisable to include hosp appointment letters with claim form?

Since I have been attending hospital for nearly 20 years due to an accident I don't actually have many of them.

- I intend to include letters from two consultants that confirm what my medical conditions are following appointments with them, both dated within the last six months.

These are addressed to my GP (and me, and each other!!). I hope these will be ok.

I welcome your comments and thank you.

Different moderators will have different opinions about the weight attached to medical reports from GP's and Consultants.

In reaching decisions on claims, Decision Makers are duty bound to consider medical evidence from all sources including those from GP's and Consultants in addition to those provided by Health Care Professionals employed by ATOS, a failure to do so would breach the rules of natural justice, i.e 'fair play at work'

I'm a former Social Security Tribunal Member, and from my experience, a Tribunal would consider medical evidence from a Consultant specialising in the claimants condition to be more relevant and credible than that of an ATOS Health Care Professional, who may not be a doctor, but could be a nurse, physiotherapist or occupational therapist who has never seen the claimant before.

Hope this helps.

Jim
retired Welfare Rights Lawyer & former Social Security Tribunal Member.

As Jim said different moderators/people have different views.

Whilst waiting to see if I was going to have to go to tribunal I used the site for information but also contacted a number of disability charities and also a firm that specialises in ESA/DLA from start to finish.

A majority of them said it was good to have a paper trail, while appointment cards and hospital letters in themselves held no value as such as Gordon said I was told it does provide a clear pattern of the illness/disability you are suffering from that may be over a number of years or months and that you have been receiving on going treatment/appointments.

But like Jim said everyone has a different point of view on what should be sent.

Gordon wrote: Jim

I would undoubtedly agree with you if we were talking about medical reports and letters, but the OP has asked a question about hospital appointment letters!

Gordon

Hi Gordon, as a regular attendant as an hospital out-patient, Consultants must send out a copy to GP's outlining their patient's condition(s) including any improvement, or worsening of their condition.

Patients should also receive a copy of the letter sent to their GP. However, from personal experience this doesn't always happen.

The solution to this is if seen by a Consultant at an out-patient clinic, tell the Consultant you want a copy of any letter(s) they send to your GP. You have a right to this information under the Data Protection Act 1998.