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Charging for medical evidence
Client has an ESA appeal GP would like £30 + VAT for a report to support, which obviously client cannot afford to pay. We have asked the DWP to request the evidence and pay the fee but they have refused, as I am sure none of you are surprised at.
Can anyone link the IDS letter that has been referred to in other posts, I’m just curious about what it says and if it would be of any help.
Thank you
Just to clarify this was the thread that referred to a letter from IDS but I may have misunderstood and it could be that it was a specific letter from IDS regarding just one case
http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/5250/P15/
I’m certain that the changes ARE costing GPs/health services more.
In our local area (and from what I gather, nationwide) claimants are being asked to provide ‘fit notes’ for weeks after they have won their appeals at tribunal. This means that GPs who were previously out of the ‘fit note’ loop following a successful appeal are having patients who have been found to have LCW/LCWRA coming back to see them on a indefinite basis (usually 2 - 3 months) asking for ‘fit notes’ so that they can continue receiving benefit pending the processing of the tribunal decision.
We’re taking this up via the local MP and have had to go back to him as the DWP aren’t acting in the way we were told they would in a letter from IDS.
Now claimants are having to deal with GPs who are saying ‘this is a waste of my time and the appointments available’ - and they’re right IMO.
Very frustrating…..
If the appeal is at Tribunal and your client is truly skint; think no DLA, maybe bedroom tax to pay. I’d suggest a copy of the digital GP records with a pleading bit at the bottom of the letter requesting them a la “please sir can you skip the fee?” as it’s only a tenner anyway.
If that fails you can ask HMCTS to direct that a copy is provided.
£30 isn’t all that much for a letter in my experience however GP letters are of variable worth hence Tribunals prefer records.
Hi,
The IDS letter is mine and is about a particular case (now expanded to 2 cases) where our clients were told they needed to continue providing medical certificates in order to keep receiving ESA after they had been successful at appeal. As you’d expect, their GPs were none too happy about being asked to provide this (and rightly so - neither us or our clients were happy about having to ask).
IDS’s letter said that there shouldn’t have been a need for this medical evidence and outlined what he believed should have happened. The second case got added when we were told something different by the helpline adviser.
As an add-on, in my original letter I brought up how much worse it was going to be when mandatory reconsiderations were brought in and this is the reply to that bit: ‘Finally, I turn to the comment about mandatory reconsiderations. We have made this change because we want to engage directly with those who are unhappy with their decision. We want to give them the opportunity to discuss their dispute, including providing further evidence. We will do this without delay but we will not do it at the expense of quality - regardless of the benefit, staff will be trained accordingly to ensure the integrity of the process. If we get this part of decision making right, we are hopeful that claimants will not have to pursue appeals. This, of course, has the potential to reduce clearance times. However, if appeals are made, it will not be the case that the mandatory reconsideration process has unduly delayed their being made.’
So, not about paying for medical evidence - just the extra cost to the NHS of appointments which shouldn’t be necessary.
Thank you both for your replies, very helpful. I think the medical records request will be the way to go as we are finding that some GPs in this area are very reluctant to engage when they know it is for a DWP appeal.
You might be able to make a case that it would be in the interests of justice for HMC&TS; to obtain medical records from the appellant’s GP. I have done this when the other medical evidence is unclear or contradictory and it has proved quite helpful.
The only downside is that anything unhelpful on the medical records is immediately there for everyone to see and once or twice this has led to me advising the appellant that the case is much weaker than we first thought- because of this I would always make sure that the apellant realised that there may be a risk involved in asking for records before writing to HMC&TS;