Doctors medical report

My Doctor has refused to give me a medical report to send with my ESA50 form. He has written one for me in the past, several in fact, and I have paid for the medical reports. I have not been able to get an appointment with him or speak to him on the phone, this is how the surgery is run and I only have a week before my form has to be returned. The receptionist said he told her he might be too busy to write it. I am at my wits end over this matter. I have been in receipt of ESA now for 10 years, and my health conditions have worsened, but how will the DWP look at my claim without medical evidence?

signoret wrote: My Doctor has refused to give me a medical report to send with my ESA50 form. He has written one for me in the past, several in fact, and I have paid for the medical reports. I have not been able to get an appointment with him or speak to him on the phone, this is how the surgery is run and I only have a week before my form has to be returned. The receptionist said he told her he might be too busy to write it. I am at my wits end over this matter. I have been in receipt of ESA now for 10 years, and my health conditions have worsened, but how will the DWP look at my claim without medical evidence?

Hi s,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

ESA has only existed since 2008, but never mind, it probably "feels" like 10 years !!

Unfortunately, G.P.'s are not contractually obliged to provide medical reports/letters of support for their patients, even if they offer to pay.

Although, I an surprised that they are now refusing when they have done so in the past.

Maybe you could request a phone consultation with one of your G.P.'s to discuss this.

An alternative, may be to simply ask them to change the date on your last report/letter to make it current if they still agree with the content.

Or, you could simply ask them to add any new conditions to your last letter/report.

This would save them time.

It may be too late for now, but you can request copy of your G.P. medical records from your practice using a Subject Access Request under Data Protection Act 1998.

They can not refuse, there will be a charge, and they can take upto 40 days to provide them.

Or you could ask to view your records at the practice, and request print offs of any relevant extract :

Requesting your medical records

&

Charging for medical records

You can make the request at your G.P. Practice Reception.

If you haven't got the evidence above in time to include with your ESA50, you should post it in good time to arrive back by the deadline date.

Keep a note of the return address, and include a covering letter stating that you are trying to obtain further evidence from your G.P. and will forward it to them as soon as you have it.

If you get the G.P. support letter, you could then post a copy on to them with another covering letter stating that you wish this to be taken into consideration along with The ESA50.

You could also take a copy along to a face to face "medical" if one is needed, and post copy to The ESA Decision Maker at the address of The Benefits Office/Centre on your most recent DWP ESA letter.

You should treat this ESA50 as if it was your first, and state that your limitations and resulting limitations have not diminished since the time of your last ESA assessment.

You could also include your last letter/report of support and state that that is still pertinent and add separate information regarding any new conditions and limitations that you now suffer.

It is important that you return the ESA50 by the deadline !

See the following :


Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

Whilst referring to the guides on this page :

ESA Claims Guides

See also :

How long do I have to complete the ESA50?

ESA50 too big for the envelope

&

Sending Documents to the DWP or Maximus

Please reply to this post if you have any further queries.

bro58