Phoned up to make an ESA application today!

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I phoned up and went through the lengthy questions and answers procedure to try to get ESA, now, just a couple of hours later, I'm already regretting it.

I need to get a GP's note and send it off to them ( snail mail ) once I've recieved some forms from them which need to be filled in and returned.

How do I get a GP's note? It takes 4 weeks to get an appointment with a GP at my local surgery!

My anxiety levels are already at a 10 over this. I may have made an error in attempting to get ESA, I don't know if I will be able to take the stress of it.

Anybody got any experience with this?

By the way, I'm trying to get it for my Asperger's and ADHD.

I just recently began receiving ESA, and I don't know how long it took me to get a GP's note, but it was a few weeks at least and as far as I know it didn't affect my application.
I don't know whether that's helpful to know. I hope your anxiety levels get a bit better, though I know these things are stressful, they stress me out as well.
Good luck.

Thanks for the reply.

The problem is that the paperwork will arrive a full three weeks ahead of my GP appointment. Even when I see the GP I have no idea how to broach it with him.

Do they charge for these notes?

Will he just tell me to piss off?

Anyway I'm glad that you got it.

Thanks, Chris

I'm in the States, but I'd imagine you walk in without an appointment, speak with the receptionist, hand her [him?] a brief letter that explains what you need and includes your mailing address, and leave.

You could also mail such a letter. Either method has it's pluses and minuses.

It'd help if you were already a patient of that doctor...

Explain to the dr that you need a note as you are unable to work due to your health problems/disability. He should give you a note signing you off for a period of time (I think that is how it works. I have been on ESA for some years now but have not needed to hand in a drs note since I had my medical and was put in the WRAG group. At most I have needed a letter from a support worker, therapist or dr explaining my condition etc when my claim comes up for review..I think...my support worker did the last lot of forms for me, and I will probably get a someone to fill them in for me again. I think the CAB will help as well).

I don't think they charge for a sick note. A drs letter yes they can or may charge for that, but not for a sick note, not usually (my drs don't anyway).

I'm not sure whether or not that will cause problems.
Hopefully you could just say to your GP that you are applying for ESA and they require this in order to process the application. If you're not sure, maybe you could ask the people who you spoke to about ESA or another professional you are involved with to give you a note to pass on to your GP that explains what you need?
I'm not sure where you live, is it the UK? I live in the UK and I wasn't charged as far as I know. I don't think he would tell you to piss off, at least, if he did, it would seem kinda inappropriate.
Thanks.

All of the replies have given me good, usable advice, thanks.

It's the obvious & small stuff like this that confuses the crap out of me when I'm stressed.

OK don't panic! I am all too familiar with ESA meltdowns so can pass on a bit of advice...

Assuming your doctor's surgery works the same as mine, you do not need to actually get an appointment with your GP to get a note. (That is because in order to write the letter, your doctor does not need to physically examine you).

Here's how it works at my surgery:

You phone the surgery and say "hello, my name is _____ and my doctor is Dr Smith. Please could you ask my doctor to phone me back?"

Then the receptionist will say "yes, certainly, but it won't be until tomorrow / later this evening, as your doctor is busy just now."

Then you say "OK that's fine."

Then the receptionist will ask you for your number and ask you for a brief description of what it's about.

Just briefly explain to the receptionist that you need to talk to your GP in order to request that he or she send a letter to the DWP with regards to claiming a benefit because of your Asperger's/autism.

If you tell the receptionist enough information about what needs to go in the letter, the doctor may not even need to phone you back. He or she may go ahead and write the letter for you based on the info the receptionist passes on.

Or perhaps the doctor will phone you back, and you can explain the situation over the phone.

I have never been charged for one of those letters. Hopefully you won't either.

Oh, and also if you suffer from social anxiety and cannot travel to strange places, the GP can also write a letter to the DWP requesting that they give you a home visit for the ESA medical, rather than you having to go and travel all the way to a strange clinic somewhere to get the medical. But that's a whole different letter, later down the line.

P. S. I found this blog very helpful when applying for ESA the first time.

http://treatid.blogspot.co.uk/

It was written in 2010 so I'm not sure if all the references to the precise questions on the form will still be up-to-date, but the general points are still relevant enough.

That's great, I'll try that when the forms turn up.

Otherwise it's gonna take a long time!

A doctor's letter for ESA is not the same thing as a "sick note." A sick note is a letter written to an employer to provide medical justification for why an employee has been off work. Assuming the OP is not currently working, it's not a sick note s/he wants. It's a letter to support an application for ESA.

In the supporting letter, the doctor will ideally need to say "I confirm that patient X has Asperger's and ADHD and these conditions affect their life in ways A, B, C, and D, making them unable to work for the following reasons: bla de bla de bla."

Most doctors will not know their patients well enough to be able to state in a letter how your condition affects your life. In fact, most GPs probably don't know all their patients well enough to know (or care) which ones have conditions such as AS. So getting your GP to write a letter explaining 1. how your condition affects you and 2. why the effects mean you can't work is rather difficult, unless you attempt to practically dictate the letter to them word for word.

Personally, I'd settle for a letter that says "I confirm that patient X has Asperger's and ADHD" and then you yourself can explain on the application form how those two conditions affect your everyday life.

Do not feel worried when you see the long list of suggested "supporting documentation" that you are advised to include with your application. It will suggest that you include letters like medical evidence of your condition, statements from counsellors or social workers or doctors or other health professionals, a diary of how your condition affects you, etc etc. If you're anything like me, you won't have any of those things apart from the GP's letter, because you are probably living in extreme isolation and do not have contact with hardly anyone. Don't worry too much if you lack a lot of those supporting documents. The main thing is the application form.

The way ESA works is that each question on the form is multiple choice, and each possible answer is worth a certain "point." If you add up enough "points," you will pass the first stage, even if you didn't provide supporting documents or don't have an official diagnosis or an actual name for your illness or condition. What they're concerned about is not what condition you have, but rather, how the condition affects you. That is what their questionnaire is analysing. If you don't add up enough "points," you won't pass, and will be declared fit for work and ordered back to the workplace -- even if you've enclosed documents proving you've got a broken back, or are paralysed from the waist down, or are deaf and blind and mute, or have terminal cancer and are living in a hospice.

The system really is that stupid. Basically a computer system somewhere will analyse all your answers and add up your "points," and if you clocked up enough "points" when filling in the form, you will pass the questionnaire. Then the next step will be trying to pass the medical.

I advise you to read the blog post I linked to. It will explain more about the stupid "points" system and help you to stop panicking. I was absolutely terrified the first time I applied for ESA, because I didn't know what to expect. The best way to prevent panicking is to inform yourself. So I did a lot of reading about it online, and now I know more or less how it works.

Basically:

Step 1: Fill in questionnaire honestly, hopefully adding up enough "points" for the computer to qualify you to be moved onto next stage. Send off questionnaire with doctor's letter. (You can read about the "points" system online and add up your "points" yourself before you send the form back, to check whether you theoretically ought to have passed based on the answers you have submitted).
Step 2: Attend medical interview with doctor (not your own GP) who will ask sneaky questions trying to trick you and catch you out and make it seem like you've lied on your application somewhere. (Worry about that part later. It won't be for a while yet).
Step 3: Awful doctor will submit a report of the interview to a "Decision Maker" who will decide whether or not you can be awarded ESA. The "Decision Maker" will be human this time.
Step 4: Await decision.
Step 5: If awarded ESA, rejoice and collapse. If refused, try and be brave enough to appeal.

I didn't realise the process was as cold and clinical as that.

Yeesh!

Received a text message from Jobcentreplus this afternoon.

"We have received your claim to Employment Support Allowance. We will contact you with a decision by 14/02/2014. You do not need to contact us."

I don't know how they can make this decision without any contact with me whatsoever.

Odd.

That is extremely strange. If you haven't even received the application form yet, let alone sent it back, it looks as though they must have confused you with somebody else. The initial interview with them over the phone does not really constitute a "claim." The application form does. They cannot make a decision about your claim until they've received your application form.

I'd say you do need to contact them (by phone) and point out their mistake. They might have logged somebody else's application form under your file. They are all too good at making admin errors, as I know from experience.

It must have been done differently when I first applied then because I handed in sick notes, in those days for depression and social anxiety. I was speaking to someone on skype a few months back who applied for ESA recently (he was unemployed at the time of applying) and he handed in repeated sick notes from his dr for his application as well.

The way it worked when I applied is that initially they give you ESA without a medical on the basis of handing in sick notes from your dr. After a period of time a medical is performed and you need to complete a form and provide supporting evidence from your dr and/or support worker or anyone else involved with assisting you or helping with your claim.

Once the medical is performed you are either told you don't qualify (I had this with my first medical but not with my second so I went via a tribunal and was awarded my claim due to 'difficulty coping with social interaction and change") or are placed in either the WRAG group or the Support group. I got dumped in the WRAG group where I presently stay. AFter this your income will change from the flat rate (the same amount as JSA whatever that is) to a higher rate depending on which group you are placed in (you get more for being in the support group than the WRAG group). Also if you claim DLA and get either middle rate care or mobility you can get a severe disablement allowance on top (which I do get..as I get middle rate care and lower rate mobility for the DLA).

My claim for DLA was the one that needed the drs letter from the beginning.

They may have changed things again though. I know DLA is no longer DLA or it won't be the next time I apply (if I do apply again, depends if I need to, I am hoping to get back to work at some point during this lifetime or at least have a go at self employing).

Aha! Bumble, I do apologise. I think I have been making a mistake. I have been on ESA for several years now, so I only have a dim memory of my first application, but each year I have to re-apply when they review my claim. I was thinking that the application process is the same as the re-application process. It isn't. Now that you've mentioned it, I remember that the first time I applied I did have to get sick notes.

OP, I do apologise if I've given you any misinformation on this thread. Silly old me. I just saw that you were panicking and I could sympathise, because I've panicked a lot about ESA stuff before, so I rushed in to help -- without stopping to remember that re-applying for ESA is not the same as making your initial application.

I suppose the text message they sent you might not have been sent in error, then. Maybe they really are going to make a decision on your claim purely based on what you told them over the phone.

Yes, they are changing DLA to a thing called PIP. It's all rather complicated.

It's okay, no need to apologise.

I'm very happy with all of the advice thet I have received so far via this thread.

Though I still can't see how a decision can be made, either way, without anybody seeing me in person.

I have a significant mental health report for them to see, but I can't show them as I can't see anybody in person.