gggrrrr hepl/advice needed please

somebody_else

chelleybelley wrote: »

will the doc ask me to do certain things like try and tie shoelaces or go to bathroom or get dressed etc....

I'm afraid that's a bit of a 'piece of string' question - it rather depends on the doctor and your disability.

During my examination, I was asked to walk as far as I could before the pain kicked in (about 15 yards that day), and I also had to go upstairs so that they could examine me for flexibility/pain etc.

nanokitten

make a formal complaint in writing,
get an advocate (CAB, DIAL, carers resource centtre etc) to help you.
You can also say you will report the loss of your highly sensitive form containing very intimate, personal, medical and financial details to the data comissioner as this is a serious loss and they should be fined.

If you want to head off the doctors visit, ring and ask to speak to a senior manager and then put in writing the contents of the discussion, send it in and say that they have 14 days to respond if they dont agree to what was said (which covers your back).

If the GP does turn up I would jolly well stay in bed, get someone else to answer the door and make sure you tell them every gory detail. If you can't face dealing with them I would say that you had no carer available that day and you did not feel up to answering the door.

really feel for your situation, Id get some proffessional support, good luck.

chelleybelley

hi nanokitten...my local DIAL are always busy have called them b4 and have had to wait wks for an app.....out of interest though who is the data comissioner?? how do i get in touch with them??

[Deleted User]

chelleybelley wrote: »

hi nanokitten...my local DIAL are always busy have called them b4 and have had to wait wks for an app.....out of interest though who is the data comissioner?? how do i get in touch with them??

http://www.ico.gov.uk/

ohreally

chelleybelley wrote: »

oam in bed probably 95% of the time because of pain

Perhaps your pain management regime should be reviewed. In this day and age no-one should suffer like this, ask your GP for something more effective.
Good luck.

chelleybelley

many thanks to everyones replies x

LameWolf

somebody_else wrote: »

Chelleybelley

It's a bit late for you now (or maybe not), but for future reference, and for other new claimants always, always take photocopies of the forms before you send them back and always send them recorded delivery.

Hi Chelley

Only just seen this thread - somebody_else is correct; always keep copies. We are lucky enough to have a scanner, so we scan everything, then if they lose it, we can just print it out again. (Yes, we have had this happen).

Last time I had to be reassessed for DLA, my husband rang them and said it'd have to be a home visit, and it'd have to be a female doctor. I can't say that the experience was exactly fun, but the doctor did make it as easy as she could for me; and as a result, my DLA was put up, much to my surprise.

I wish you all the best with your claim.

nanokitten

Sorry for the delay in replying, woodbine is correct, The information commisoner is in charge of enforcing the data protection act.
see:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/Home/for_the_public/your_personal_information.aspx
for more information and complaint forms are here:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/data_protection.aspx

I would point out the extremely sensetive nature of the forms, (they may contain all your personal info, an identity fraudersers dream come true: DOB, nat insurance no, bank account details), plus sensetive medical information including matters such as continence, mental health status, embarrassing diseases...lay it on thick).

PLUS due to the distressing nature of the forms you have suffered having to spend a great deal of time filling them in again and possible a humilating medical as a drect consiquence of their incompetance.

Now I've written it all down like that It makes me think I was crazy to send my own forms off without registered post! I certainly will be doing so next time. Good luck with it all, let us know how you get on.

fatherofseven

we got a letter saying that a gp was coming to see us and on the day he was due my wife was in a bad way with her illnesses any way we waited and during the course of the day my wife started to feel better and guess what he turns up at 7-30 at night when my wife was sitting all nice and comfy he asked a few questions and looked at all the disabled bits in our house but for the last 10 miinutes of the meeting he just looked down and when he left he didnt even shake my hand or have eye contact i said to my wife hes going to stop your allowance ( she gets the highest rate and i get carers ) sure enough within a week it was stopped the car had to go because we couldnt afford to keep up the payments anyway it took up to 3 months to win her appeal and has been given dla for life now that doctor who turned up had probally just finished work and got the hump because he had to do a visit we put a complaint into the dla about him he made a decision in 20 minutes without examining her it messed our lives up for months good luck i hope this dosnt put you off god bless tim

Thanatos

Hi chelleybelley - I am a DLA Decsion maker - I have only just seen this thread, and whilst I am not here on this forum in an official capacity (I am simply a money saver like everyone else!;)), perhaps I could dispell some of the rumours and present some of the facts surrounding an EMP (Examining Medical Practitioner) based on my knowledge.

Firstly, someone mentioned a visiting EMP this would not be a GP as we employ our own doctors. This is not 100% accurate. An EMP is simply a local GP (but not from your own practise) who is paid to come out and visit you. You may well find that your own GP also visitis DLA customers from time to time - you could even ask him. We do employ our own doctors (via a private company) at our Disibility Centres around the country to offer our Decision Makers advice on cases, or if a customer comes to a centre for a medical exam, but this is mainly used for IB cases and rarely DLA or AA.

Regarding the quality of their reports and what the doctors do at your home, there should be no "snooping around", however things like the Doctors medical skills and bedside manner are only as good as the GP allocated to perform the examination. As I am sure you are aware, some GP's are rubbish and some are great. The one thing they all do have to conform too though is a code of conduct. If the Doctor is rude, biased, fails to examin you properly or anything like that, you should register a complaint. I have seen investigations take place and can confirm GPs and their surgeries come under heavy fire if anything like this happens.

From what I have seen of EMP reports when making decisions on customers claims (and I have seen a lot!) is that 99.9% of the time they are very accurate and as the Examining doctor has no say one way of the other about wether you get the benefit or not, gets the same payment regardless of the outcome of a customers claim, there is no hidden agenda.


Moving on to the loss of your forms, it is a real shame that this sort of thing does happen from time to time. In terms of % of how many forms get lost, it is a tiny, tiny amount, and although I am sure that does not make you feel any better, i would like to assure you that we have a pretty robust search mechanism in place - to the extent in the region of about 2000 people stop what they are doing once a week in Warbreck house in Blackpool (The main site for the country) and further 1000's all around the country and search for any cases on a list of cases that have gone missing. The list only ever carries about 20 - 30 names on it (most of which are found at this point). When you look at the fact we deal with approaching 5,000,000 customers claims you can perhaps see that we are trying our hardest to ensure this sort of thing does not happen.

Try not to be put off by the horror stories you hear, whilst I dont doubt they are geniuine cases where things have gone wrong, it is worth remembering you only ever hear about bad things because people get angry (sometimes justifiably so! ) and the people who everything goes smoothly (approx 4,900,000 of them!) you never hear anything from...

If I can be of any help to anyone regarding information about DLA/AA I have started a thread in this area of the forum which has now been stickied so it is easy to find.

I hope the medical examination goes smoothly and the the PDCS can give you a little faith back in our service! Good luck with your claim!