Fri 05-May-06 11:40 AM by ken

Having a barney with a local JC+ about the interpretation of the med 10 (hospital inpatient) medical certificate.

It basically says:

1. I certify that CLIENT NAME has received treatement as an inpatient in this hospital since FIRST DATE and is expected to remain in hospital for at least a further X weeks. Signature of certifier, SECOND DATE.

It seems clear as crystal to me that the certificate covers the person from the first date to the second date AND for x weeks from the second date. One office locally is saying it only covers the person from x weeks from the first date, and on this basis they are refusing to forward forms to a DM, and say, even if they did, the DM would send it back because of insufficient med ev.

Have now reached an impasse. Is there any official guidance on how the certificate should be read? Or a handy decision I can wave about?

Sue

The Med 10 asks the certifier to complete section a) giving the expected number of weeks OR section b) giving the date of discharge.
Unless you have a different Med 10. So I would think any date after the date in b) date of discharge would require a Med 3....or a new Med 10 if they cocked it up.

Section (b) is not in issue here - it's only the interpretation of (a) I'm interested in in this case.

Ahh sorry I didn't realise that the SECOND DATE in your post was just the date it was signed. If the Med 10 says the expected stay is 10 weeks then the cl is covered for 10 weeks from the date they were admitted.

True, but then what if a second med 10 is issued after they have been in hospital for 10 weeks, say for another five weeks? In the hospital in question, the practice is to always put the admission date as the first date and count forward from the second date, and I must say that makes sense to me.

It makes perfect sense to me now.....maybe I should get a job at your local JCP because initially it didn't! lol
If it's the 2nd Med 10 then of course the weeks should be calculated from the end of the previous Med 10 or from the date it was signed and not from the admission date.

In case anyone else is interested, I have in my hand of piece of paper from internal guidance which I am assured is used by Jobcentres, which confirms that "The period shown on the form Med 10 starts from the date of signing".