DLA/Tribunal

Tammera

My mum applied for DLA almost 2 years ago, which was refused and went to appeal then to tribunal you know the procedure lol. We finally got the tribunal date for last november after more than a year, and luckily i told my mum to get letters from all of her doctors and specialists just incase to take to tribunal (i went with her as a representative) it turned out that her GP (which she doesnt see due to incompetance, shes another in the practice) sent back the requested form saying he has no knowledge of any of the illnesses my mum had mentioned, which we found out about 15 minutes into the tribunal after being questioned like my mum was a liar, and was why she was refused in the first place. When i was finally allowed to speak i told them we have letters from all her doctors, they told us the leave the room, about 10 minutes later they called us back and said they will be adjourning the hearing for another date and will be summoning 5 years of medical history and sending an independant doctor.

The medical records had to be sent twice as the tribunal service saying they hadnt recieved the first lot. after numerous phonecalls to the tribunal service over december, january, feb and apparent repeated referals from the tribunal service to the independant dr's she finally got an appointment at the end of feb. and was given another tribunal date at the begining of april (it was rushed through as her health was deteriorating and she was due for emergency spinal surgery at any day to prevent paralysis) we then got a letter a week before saying the tribunal date was canceled and a new one would be sent out. after a long phonecall i was told it was canceled due to a administrative error and a panel member was booked for this hearing that was on the november, and apparently this isnt allowed, so was then going to be rebooked for june, and after some negotiation we managed to book another date sooner but in another city near by (mid may).

while we had been having problems with getting this independant dr to come out i had phoned the DLA and asked for some advice and shockingly they was very helpful. they said that they could re examine the case if we requested and so gave me the number of the personal incharge of appeals and discussed the case with him. he told me that they could relook at the case without it becoming a new claim due to the GP giving wrong information and the tribunal service acting like numptys and still get the backdating but nothing can happen untill the independant doctor comes out and for me to push for it and as soon as the independant doctor report comes to me, to phone them back as they should also have the report. but as we got the tribunal date so quickly after the independant doctor, we decided to go with tribunal as i had more faith in their decision than DLA due to past experiances of my own.

when they canceled the tribunal in march (april date) i phone the DLA appeals section and they agreed that the tribunal in may would continue but in the mean time they would re examine the case and if they would award her higher rate then award it, but if it was lower they would leave it be for tribunal. some time later DLA phoned me and said half the independant doctor report is missing and if i had all or half sent to me also, after comparing notes it turns out that we both have half missing, so he said he said he would have to try and get the other half from the tribunal service. about a month later i phoned back and they said they still havent recieved it and they would try again. this morning i phoned and they said the tribunal service still hasnt sent them the other half and she will continue to work on them to try and track it down.

now my main concern is if this missing half of the doctors report is still missing we will either have another adjournment or some other long rediculous wait for something. my mum has stopped recieving her sick pay and has been living off her savings which are dwindling. she cant claim any other benefit because her partner lives with her and works, but he wont help her financially because she wont take money off her children (in college) and other recently moved out, his attitude is why should i pay you if they wont and because she wont put her house in his name, but she loves him and wont send him packing and thinks she cant survive by herself and noone else will want her as shes old and ill blah blah blah, its stupid but i cant convince her to get rid of him.

shes running out of money and this DLA is just taking too long. any advice in reguards to this medical report/tribunal/DLA situation or anything else would be appreciated.

Thanks

kaya

i think you will find that your dr's surgery HAS to provide you with copies of your medical notes, there may be a small charge, but then you can prove your gp knew about the health issues you mentioned and is a wrongun

Tammera

Yea we have done that, thats not the problem at the moment.

dmg24

I think your attitude towards the Tribunal is rude. It is your responsibility to ensure that they have all the required evidence, and they have done you a big favour by adjourning and arranging an independent report. With regard to the missing report, it sounds like it is being chased up for you.

The service you have received is above and beyond what they are required to do. Perhaps you should think about that before calling them numpties?

Tammera

What evidence did i not supply?
The DLA have been chasing the tribunal service for the missing reports for 2 months, and as yet have not sent anything. isnt an independant doctor standard procedure in alot of cases? waiting a year for the first tribunal because of the doctor sending the wrong information which the judge told me the tribunal service should have sent me any medical documents they recieved which they didnt otherwise it would have been sorted out beforehand. then waiting another 6 months for another tribunal due to many referals and reports going missing and administrative mistakes, and still reports are missing and therefore another adjournment likely. Yes definatly above and beyond.