Whilst we are dedicated to supporting our patients with their medical care, Little Waltham and Great Notley surgery is no longer able to provide letters of support for housing, schools or social care benefits. Our NHS contract does not include a requirement to provide supportive statements nor, with the increased demand we are seeing for medical services, do we have the available resources to do so.
All requests for letters (including for benefits, council, housing, immigration, education/school appeals, and any other non-NHS services) will only be considered following a formal request from the agency involved or Court Order where this is relevant. In these cases, we will require the patient’s formal consent before completing the form or report. As these are not an NHS service fees will apply. Please ask the agency to contact us at our Great Notley office: Great Notley Surgery, Notley Green, Braintree, CM77 7GS.
Housing:
If you are intending to apply for a council home for health reasons, you do not need a doctor’s letter. The Local Authority will contact us directly should they require further evidence, and all requests should come via the Housing Association or Local Authority and not via the patient.
Department for Work & Pensions:
For Universal Credit and PIP requests, the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has a statutory obligation to contact us directly for all the necessary medical information where it is required. A supporting letter from your GP is duplication of this and is not required. Please see the link below for further guidance from the DWP.
Supporting information for Personal Independence Payment (Easy Read)
There are many sources of support for building a case to submit or appeal to the DWP.
PIP claim help, plus ESA, DLA & Universal Credit (benefitsandwork.co.uk)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) | Disability Rights UK
We can support you in your applications by providing access to your medical records including hospital letters that you may attach to your application should you wish. If you require any information relating to your medical conditions, please request a copy of your medical summary or full medical records (this is called a Subject Access Request). This is free of charge and can be emailed to you. Subject Access Requests can take up to one month to process. The most effective and the quickest way to access your medical records is via the NHS App.
If an agency is continuing to insist that you provide a letter from your GP please download or print the attached letter from the Local Medical Committee which can be passed on to them