I'm doing an IB appeal. On the IB 85 under "Medical Opinion" there is the list of activities detailing the descriptor code chosen by the Dr and then either a statement of "agree" or "disagree".

For example under the heading sitting the code reads:

Sif No problem sitting Disagree

On first sight it would seem that the Dr is disagreeing with the statement "No problem sitting". However am I right in thinking that the Dr is disagreeing with the clients statement that he "Cannot sit comfortably for more than an hour, without having to move from the chair" and in fact replacing it with the code Sif which is "No problem sitting".?

Thu 28-Jul-05 01:55 PM by ken

This doesen't directly answer to your specific point, but it may be worthwhile you having a look at CIB/476/2005 and CIB/511/05 which both highlight repeated errors, inconsistencies and ommissions in the electronic IB85 form.

Summaries of both decisions can be found in the briefcase area of rightsnet, with links to the full decisions which are available on the www.osscs.gov.uk site.

Thanks Ken. I will raise the questions that i have posted at the tribunal and will have a read of 476/2005 tonight.

Having seen these lists before they appear to be a list of the doctors findings, followed by whether it agrees or disagrees with the claimants findings. So the disagreement is not with the statement it appears next to, but an indication that the claimants statement indicated a different descriptor to that awarded by the doctor.

This is not made particularly clear on the lists, but it does seem to be fairly consistent in use.

I think you're right and the Dr is disagreeing with what the claimant said on the IB50. On the old hand-completed IB85s there were two tick boxes for the Dr to indicate whether they agreed/disagreed with the claimant's statement. When they went over to the computerised version they seem to have simply put in the word agree/disagree without making it clear what it related to.

Cheers!