Hospital Consultant won't respond to DVLA!

Savvy_Sue

In mid-July I had brain surgery to remove a benign tumour, so naturally I haven't driven since then. I thought I'd have to surrender my licence, but the registrar said he didn't think I needed to because the procedure was sufficiently minor not to require this: I just needed to let DVLA know. If they wanted me to surrender my licence, they would tell me.

So I sent off a B1 form downloaded from the DVLA website, which asks for details of your condition and requires you to give permission for them to contact your medical advisors. I'd already done this once when the tumour was diagnosed: at that stage I'd been told by my consultant it was OK to drive.

On Wednesday I had a follow-up appointment at the hospital with someone I'd never seen before, and I asked him when I'd be able to drive again. He said DVLA would let me know and I needed to surrender my licence. I said I didn't need to do that according to the registrar, and that I'd sent off a form instead. He repeated that it was a DVLA decision. I said yes, but DVLA would not know without medical advice which they would get from the hospital. He said he didn't know anything about that, he riffled through my file and said there was no request from DVLA in my file.

So this morning I phoned DVLA. Who said they had written to my consultant on 24 August, and sent a reminder on 21 September, and they still hadn't heard from him! Which did not impress me very much. Fortunately I have a fax no. for the consultant which I passed onto DVLA and they said they would fax him.

I have also written to the consultant and faxed it off to him.

I'm not saying I am fit to drive yet, but I am just SO cross that no-one has replied to DVLA. I've started a phased return to work, and fortunately I don't need the car to get there, or to do my job, but there are times when a car would be useful. And what if I DID need my car for work - for all I know I've been fit to drive for weeks and no-one's told me!

I thought it was bad enough that despite phoning the hospital every two weeks I was NEVER sent confirmation that the tumour was benign - I'd just had a breezy "We'd be gobsmacked if it wasn't benign" from the registrar a few days after surgery. Well excuse me, but are you never gobsmacked? And I had to phone to get a follow up appointment, I was told I'd get a confirmation letter, but no, I had to phone again to get that.

I was thinking of talking to PALS, but I rang them a fortnight ago and got an answerphone message saying there was no-one there until mid-October ...

IvanOpinion

Phone up the hospital and ask them were and to whom a letter of complaint should be sent (they will give you the relevant details). Then, as you have detailed above, send a letter, including all relevant dates and times, to the depatrment who should investigate and help to get this sorted out. This is probably going to be much quicker than trying to sort it out yourself.

Ivan

paws_3

Hi
The other thing you could do is phone his secretary explain the situation. Then ring a couple of days later etc and she will get so sick of you ringing she will get her consu;tant to sort it out.
Works every time!
Good Luck x

Savvy_Sue

paws wrote:

Hi
The other thing you could do is phone his secretary explain the situation. Then ring a couple of days later etc and she will get so sick of you ringing she will get her consu;tant to sort it out.
Works every time!
Good Luck x

Unfortunately phoning his secretary gets no result at all: I've tried that in an attempt to get written confirmation that the tumour was benign ...

I've always got the best results when the consultant's secretary is not there and someone else is covering!

LondonDiva

IvanOpinion wrote:

Phone up the hospital and ask them were and to whom a letter of complaint should be sent (they will give you the relevant details). Then, as you have detailed above, send a letter, including all relevant dates and times, to the depatrment who should investigate and help to get this sorted out. This is probably going to be much quicker than trying to sort it out yourself.

Ivan

This depends on whether it's one of the statutory forms or a 'favour'. If it isn't part of the NHS/govt list of mandatory forms, he doesn't have to do it & you can't complain.

I would suggest that you

*try PALS again
*see if your GP could be an alternative
*ring his sec daily (from what I see of hospitals, she's the one to get on side/controls the paperwork)
*see if the form can be sent to you to take to your next appt
*check they REALLY did send it.

Good luck

Diva

Savvy_Sue

LondonDiva wrote:

This depends on whether it's one of the statutory forms or a 'favour'. If it isn't part of the NHS/govt list of mandatory forms, he doesn't have to do it & you can't complain.

It's a form from DVLA, asking whether I'm fit to drive or not, and possibly even asking whether I should have surrendered my licence. As such I'd have thought it was a mandatory form rather than a favour.

Rest assured I'm NOT driving until I'm told I can! Although I feel about as fit as I did pre-op when it was OK for me to drive, and I haven't fitted or anything like that.

LondonDiva wrote:

I would suggest that you

*try PALS again
*see if your GP could be an alternative
*ring his sec daily (from what I see of hospitals, she's the one to get on side/controls the paperwork)
*see if the form can be sent to you to take to your next appt
*check they REALLY did send it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Pals: answerphone says there will be no-one there until mid October. I could write or email, but then it will be in the middle of the huge pile that some poor unfortunate person comes back from leave to plough through ...

GP: yes, I could ask my GP, but I suspect I'll get a shrug and an "I don't really know", especially as after some forms of brain surgery you HAVE to surrender your licence and can't have it back for a year. The jargon on the DVLA website is pretty impenetrable to me, but if I get desperate I might print it out and ask my GP if he can make sense of it.

Secretary: trouble is, when I have phoned her regularly before she has sounded quite abrupt. I don't feel I got her 'on side' then, for some reason I always seem to get better results when it's someone trying to cover for her as well as doing their own job ...

Next appointment: don't have one scheduled. I get another brain scan in January, presumably I'll have to see someone after that, but last time there was a two month wait between scan and appointment with consultant.

Did they send it? Well, DVLA quoted dates at me, I can't think why they'd make them up.

I may phone DVLA and check whether it is a mandatory form before I phone the consultant's secretary again ... I can check they managed to fax the latest request through and find out if they've had a reply.

Although someone told me the other day that if you WRITE to the consultant he is expected to reply within 14 days, but there's not such requirement with responding to phone messages. So in theory I should get a response to my fax - I did last time I faxed him, very promptly!

Ho hum.

Poppy9

The hospital consultants do seem a bit in the dark over driving with brain conditions.

My friend had a fit 5 months ago. She had never had one before and was admitted to hospital for test. They kept her in for 5 days and told her she had a couple of brain lessions. After a further scan some weeks later they told her everything was fine and it was probably just a one off. She asked if she needed to surrender her driving licence and the Doc said no as he hadn't witnessed the fit as far as he was concerned it wasn't a fit

She has been driving since and fit free until 2 weeks ago when she had another fit. This time she was told to surrender her licence for a min. 12 months. She has no diagnosis but has been told she needs to see a neurologist. Unfortunately there is a 2 year waiting list so she has paid privately and should be seen in a month or so! She is lucky she can find the money for the private consultation, but what about those who can't.

Savvy_Sue

I phoned DVLA this morning, and although the chap didn't really tell me whether my consultant is required to give them the information or just doing it as a favour, he DID say that DVLA pay a fee!

Then I phoned the consultant's secretary, she said she had seen my fax last week and that my notes were with the consultant this morning: she was going to check whether the DVLA request had arrived although she thought it had.

Now all I need is for him to take some action on the DVLA request ...

jobbingmusician

Please please do the world a favour (although I hardly dare ask a favour from someone like you who contributes so much to this board ) and REPORT THE PALS SERVICE to the local PCT. Not having any service for over a month is completely unacceptable - a PALS service HAS to be provided!

I am also appalled that your consultant hasn't had the common decency to confirm that your tumour was benign..grrrrrr!

PS I run a stroke charity, so come up against situations like this all too often!!!! I am still fairly new in the job, so learning, but if I find anything useful at work I will PM you.

xueta

Hi S_S,

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

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.

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!

Best Wishes,
x

Savvy_Sue

eastchristina wrote:

Please please do the world a favour (although I hardly dare ask a favour from someone like you who contributes so much to this board ) and REPORT THE PALS SERVICE to the local PCT. Not having any service for over a month is completely unacceptable - a PALS service HAS to be provided!

I may do that, although the answerphone said that it was because of staff leave and a vacancy, so hard to know what they could do. Also various bits about "If it's about this phone X and if it is urgent do Y", but at that stage I was quite close to my follow-up appointment so decided to wait. I think they're back now, so poor woman will be drowned in backlog, and unless she's forgotten to change her voicemail I won't be able to verify exactly what it said!

eastchristina wrote:

I am also appalled that your consultant hasn't had the common decency to confirm that your tumour was benign..grrrrrr!

At my follow-up appointment, the chap I saw showed me the path report, it was a W1 if I'm remembering right, anyway he said that meant it was benign. Husband came close to asking for a photocopy: I couldn't read the whole thing, just had the result pointed out.

It wasn't so much that I was worried it wasn't benign, as much as the principle that it's my head they took this thing out of, I'd like to know what it was. Plus I've had family and friends asking "have you had the results yet", and it was rather frustrating that despite phoning the secretary regularly (if not that frequently!) NOTHING was sent to me!

eastchristina wrote:

PS I run a stroke charity, so come up against situations like this all too often!!!! I am still fairly new in the job, so learning, but if I find anything useful at work I will PM you.

Thanks, that's very kind of you.

Planning to phone tomorrow to check that the DVLA request WAS in my file, and ask if it's been dealt with yet.