Hospital Consultant won't respond to DVLA!

Savvy_Sue · 13 October 2005 at 1:16PM

xueta wrote:

I'm pleased that your surgery has gone so well and wish you all the best for your continued recovery.

Thank you. People are fairly astonished, although the last step of getting back to work every day is taking time ...

xueta wrote:

It's inevitable that you're feeling anxious at this time and want reassurance that the tumour was benign. It may be that the Consultant or his Registrar has not realised that you have not been formally told of the diagnosis - it may be the case that each has assumed a colleague has already passed on the good news! Ring the secretary again and suggest that the Registrar could look into the paperwork and perhaps call you back to discuss the situation. Consultant Neurosurgeons are notoriously busy people and paperwork unfortunately sometimes gets put aside whilst they concentrate on looking after the clinical needs of their in-patients.

See my reply to EastChristina above. And yes, I know what neurosurgeons are like: I thought my current one was better than the first one I had but maybe he was just trying to make a good impression to begin with.

xueta wrote:

Having just had a look at the DVLA website, it seems that most patients who have had brain surgery are required to stop driving for 12 months. Some patients who have relatively minor benign conditions may be considered for return to driving after 6 months provided they remain fit-free. A few may return to driving as soon as they have recovered from the surgery. It all depends on the site of the problem (e.g. supratentorial or infratentorial), the diagnosis and whether or not there have been any fits.

So ... it may be as well to be prepared for a possible 12 months off driving; if you can resume driving sooner than that then treat that as a bonus!

Yes, I was expecting up to 12 months. Can't remember which my surgery was, behind my ear and not very deep in plain English! I was also expecting to have to surrender my licence, and was pleasantly surprised when the Registrar said I didn't, just to complete the B1. And I haven't had any fits, just one episode soon after I was discharged when I thought the top of my head was going to explode. I have to say they were very good when that happened, and I daresay that looking after patients is a whole lot more fun than paperwork!

colmil · 13 October 2005 at 9:55PM

DVLA act as judge, jury and executioner, and have simply no flexibility regarding medical conditions.
I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, (tunnel vision) six weeks ago, I was told to give up driving, my business is in ruins( having travelled over 25,000 miles a year for 40 years!) and so is my social life and my general mobility have gone.

I have never had an accident, and have superb 180 degree vision when driving, but because of the stupid rules that DVLA work to, I must stop earning a living.

I totally appreciate that safety is of the utmost importance, I have offered to take any sort of proper visual eye test, i.e. in actual driving conditions via a simulator but they will not offer me the opportunity.

If necessary, I will take this to the Court of Human Rights, if anyone out there has had a similar experience, I would like to heat from them.

Regards,

Colmil.

Savvy_Sue · 14 October 2005 at 6:14PM

colmil wrote:

DVLA act as judge, jury and executioner, and have simply no flexibility regarding medical conditions.
I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, (tunnel vision) six weeks ago, I was told to give up driving, my business is in ruins( having travelled over 25,000 miles a year for 40 years!) and so is my social life and my general mobility have gone.

I have never had an accident, and have superb 180 degree vision when driving, but because of the stupid rules that DVLA work to, I must stop earning a living.

I totally appreciate that safety is of the utmost importance, I have offered to take any sort of proper visual eye test, i.e. in actual driving conditions via a simulator but they will not offer me the opportunity.

If necessary, I will take this to the Court of Human Rights, if anyone out there has had a similar experience, I would like to heat from them.

Is it the DVLA who have said they have no flexibility? or is it your consultant? Because I think you need the support of your consultant if you're going to get anywhere. And if there's an RP support group out there, see if they'll help as well, if only by putting you in touch with people similarly affected.

The DVLA has a medical panel who meet to consider the implications of various conditions for driving. I believe that at one time, anyone who'd had brain surgery (as I have) would be unable to drive for at least a year, regardless of the nature of the op and the patient's recovery. The situation is now as xueta describes it. I believe those changes have come about because patients and their doctors have made the medical panel aware that a blanket 12 month ban is no longer appropriate in all cases. I don't suppose it was an overnight decision!

Out of interest, have you done a search on the DVLA website for retinitis pigmentosa? If you do, you'll find yourself led to various pages including a full definition of what vision defects normally preclude you holding a licence, and the exceptions, and minutes of the medical panel where RP was discussed. From which it appears that in exceptional cases and with the support of the consultant, people with certain forms of RP can retain / be given a licence. You might find those worth reading - it may give you some hope.

colmil · 16 October 2005 at 4:37PM

Thanks for your reply, Savvy Sue.

Sorry for the delay in replying.

I have looked at the DVLA website as you suggested, and in exceptional circumstances a licence can be returned, however there is no way to prove I can see perfectly well to drive, the same machine tests are used, talk about a vicious circle!

I did not receive any support at all from the specialist, he simply told me that my visual field requirements were not satisfactory and that I must advise the DVLA.

I am currently trying to see another specialist, privately, but I don't know if he will be able to give me any other tests that the DVLA will accept.

DVLA said in their letter to me that if I considered taking legal action against them, it could prove expensive and unneccessary, talk about Big Brother!

I sincerely hope that your own problems will soon be at an end.

Thanks again,

Colmil.

Savvy_Sue · 20 October 2005 at 6:04PM

Well, I have phoned the consultant again, and the request for a report is with the consultant (last week it was with the new registrar who seemed to know nothing!) but he hasn't had time to deal with it yet. Either he or the registrar (hopefully the one who told me I didn't have to surrender my licence) can do the report, but they were both likely to be in the operating theatre until 10 pm today.

I'm just thankful I don't NEED to be able to drive in order to get to work or do my job! But it would be nice to take the kids to see my parents over half-term, and my DH hasn't got time to take us, and it's not the easiest journey by train, plus it costs an arm and a leg! I did tell the secretary that the reason for hassling her now was because of half-term, but I really don't know if it's going to help at all.

Savvy_Sue · 1 November 2005 at 6:43PM

Deciding that enough was enough, last Friday I called PALS and left a fairly fraught message on their answerphone: we'd been away for a couple of days and my DH really struggled doing all the driving. Fair enough if I can't drive, but frustrating if I am actually fit but nobody's 'had time' to fill in the necessary forms.

Over the weekend I emailed PALS in a slightly calmer frame of mind.

And on Monday I had two phone calls, one from the PALS lady to say she was seeing what she could do, and one from the consultant's secretary to say the form was about to be faxed off to DVLA!

Will phone DVLA at the end of the week and see if anything's been put on the computer - the form doesn't ask "Is the patient fit to drive?" so it's all down to DVLA seeing that there are no boxes ticked which ring alarm bells at their end.

Js_Other_Half · 1 November 2005 at 7:00PM

Savvy_Sue wrote:

Will phone DVLA at the end of the week and see if anything's been put on the computer - the form doesn't ask "Is the patient fit to drive?" so it's all down to DVLA seeing that there are no boxes ticked which ring alarm bells at their end.

Fingers crossed that it is good news.

Savvy_Sue · 11 November 2005 at 3:05PM

Saw my GP on Wednesday and asked, among other things, if he was prepared to say I was fit to drive. Explained the saga to him, he checked my notes and found the letter the registrar sent him early in October (shame I wasn't worth a copy!) Then he checked a website to make sure that I'd had the kind of op after which you can drive again "when recovered", and agreed with me that I am now, for all practical purposes, 'recovered'.

Booked a refresher lesson with my son's driving instructor, and he said I was fine, he wasn't worried at all. I'd booked for two hours, but we agreed an hour was enough, I've got myself to work, zoomed up a motorway and back, negotiated a nasty stretch of stop-start hill traffic, headed out to the Mall and back via another motorway.

Nothing can stop me now!