medical report from doctors

[scottspeirs1]

I asked my gp for med report explaining I suffer from fibro to send with my esa 50 she said we don't do that we wait to hear from atos? is this correct?

[rosehip]

my gp wrote me a letter to send , i had to pay though

[Hidden]

Hi

If Atos approach your GP they will be asked to fill in a form detailing your conditions, what meds you are on and if your illness prevents you doing certain things like mobilising, sitting at a workstation, using a computer mouse etc. However they don't always contact your GP and more and more GP's are refusing to fill them in as they are time consuming.

My GP kindly filled mine in but she said she didn't think that Atos take that much notice anyway, for the same reason she didn't think it was worth my paying out £25 or so for a letter. Have you got any other medical evidence you could send off?

[Yorkshiregirlie]

When I approached my GP about this initially her reaction was that a number of patients had contacted her, asking for letters to be done for ATOS. She stressed to me that she had already had feedback from quite a few stating that ATOS pretty much ignored the letters. However, I asked if she would still do one for me which she did, and no charge. It outlined my diagnosis, treatments and stressed that to be forced into work would, in her medical opinion, worsen my symptoms and increase the depression I was already suffering from. Whether or not it will help remains to be seen as I have been told I must attend a Tribunal following my failed appeal. I am still waiting for a date for this but, having discussed this again with my GP, she advised me to take every single bit of documentation relating to my condition (going back YEARS) to the Tribunal. She told me to keep a daily diary outlining how I felt, slept, what hurt, when, how long, etc and to take this with me as further evidence. I have also been advised independently to either record the proceedings or take someone sensible with me to act as a witness. It seems shocking to have to go to these lengths but, again, I have been told of many individuals attending Tribunal that afterwards their words were twisted, outright lies were told and non-qualified individuals were making decisions they had no background or qualification to undertake. I hope some of this helps Silverstar and can only reiterate: take anything and everything relating to your condition; the more ammunition you have the better.

[Boromoor]

Hello,

My GP said the same to me when I told him I'd appealed against being place in the WRAG. Because I thought the DWP may be on a cost cutting exercise, I asked the DWP through a Freedom of Information request through a website called "What do They Know?" They said it's my responsibility to get the evidence from my doctor. If you go onto the website you may be able to see their answer by searching for my username which is the same as the one I use on here. Hope this helps.

[molly44 in reply to Boromoor]

My GP said the same. He said they don't do letters unless asked by Atos or DWP, and even when he does a letter it gets ignored because the DWP think that the doctors are all on our side!!

He did say that even if he does a letter stating what illnesses I have, only I know how it all affects me on a day to day basis.

molly44

[oldieB]

Yep my GP said the same. Anyway I hardly get to see my own gP AND HE DOESN'T REALLY KNOW AT ALL HOW I AM AFFECTED IN THE WAY THEYU NEED TO KNOW! I'm JUST IN THE BRACKET THEY ARE TRYING TO "KILL OFF" AS I FEEL IT AND WONDER WHY I WASN'T BORN 6 MONTHS EARLIER! hope all goes in your favour and you can contain the stress - maybe the fine weather will hel[ you - I know not everyone benefits, fortunately I have always felt better in the warm weather though tired!!

[mistymeana]

Hiya, I work at a GP surgery so can answer from the inside. What you've been told is correct. Reason being that ATOS and crew usually gaily disregard any pro-active letter your GP might write for you. As they're not supposed to write these letters in NHS time it effectively means you end up paying for something ATOS is going to file in the bin. ATOS routinely send in a form for claimants for GP for the to indicate what particular categories they consider would reduced each patient's abilities and what medical evidence etc they have to back this up. The benefit is that ATOS have to pay for the information, not you. Some benefits advisors etc still don't seem to be aware of this, despite surgery staff trying to ensure they don't give out incorrect info, so they do sometimes tell people to approach their GP for a letter to send in with their claims. So please don't feel fobbed-off, I'm sure your surgery was just trying to avoid you delaying submitting your forms and paying for something that wouldn't be regarded in the end x