Housing/Benefit Letters

The Lonsdale Medical Centre is committed to supporting our patients. All requests for letters for benefits, council or any other third parties, we will only complete with a formal request from the third party.

Please note all requests from the third party will require the patients formal consent.

We will only complete factual responses. We are not allowed to give an opinion. If in doubt we will refuse to complete the request and may issue a copy of medical records instead with your consent.

Be aware we charge for any requests, and these can take up to 28 days.

HOUSING APPLICATIONS

We do not provide letters for housing, so please do not request these. Whilst we appreciate that housing problems can be stressful, this is a matter for the council housing office. If the council requires additional medical information, they will send a specific form to the GP surgery. You will need to provide your written consent for this.

If you are intending to apply for a council home for health reasons, YOU DO NOT NEED A DOCTOR’S LETTER.

The Council will write, in confidence, to your doctor if further information is required.

GPs receive frequent requests for medical letters and reports in support of housing applications from a variety of sources – the local authority, housing associations, directly from patients and from patients via Citizens Advice Bureaux. The arrangements for seeking GP reports and for payment vary from local authority area to local authority area, and even when clearly agreed are often not implemented by local authority staff. However all requests should come via the Housing Association and not the patient.

Information in support an application based on health grounds should be supplied by the applicant using a form provided by the Housing Department (self-assessment). This should not require any input from the GP/practice.

Only if additional information is required, should the Housing Department Medical Officer obtain it from the applicant’s doctor, preferably using a standard form, provided the patient has given written consent. The Medical Officer should seek information which is only available to the GP, for example:

• the diagnosis;
• severity of the illness;
• medication

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