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PIP Tribunal lost my medical records

sparkle101

Hi, can someone share any advice please.

HMCTS adjourned my tribunal because they wanted my medical records from 01/2020 .. I sent them off on 16/08/2023 and it was signed for at Harlow HMCTS on 18/08/2023, I still have the screen shot from Royal Mail showing a signature at the time of delivery and my original receipt from the post office.

I hadn’t heard anything else since my adjourned tribunal so I thought I’d do the online chat with them to find out if my records were received.. well, they aren’t on their system and nobody seems to know where they are … so 3 and a half years of my medical records are floating around somewhere & nobody from the tribunal service knows what to do. Any help or advice would be great. Thanks

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Jimm_Alumni

Hi @sparkle101, welcome to the Scope community. I'm sorry to hear about this situation, those documents are so important and the fact they're potentially just "gone" must be stressful. Just for clarification did you send the originals or just copies?

Have you tried raising a complaint so they can investigate? My initial thoughts are they potentially have a document policy once they are done using them, whether to archive or dispose of them. A complaint could result in an investigation to see exactly what happened.

I'm also moving this to the PIP section of our community so it has more visibility with people who have experience dealing with the DWP and PIP. While this isn't directly about applying/appealing PIP it's certainly related.

sparkle101

Hi @Jimm_Scope, thanks for your reply.

I have spoke to them & apparently they’ve emailed Harlow office and made it “highly important” this was at 3:30 yesterday and I’ve heard nothing since, so to me that’s not very important. It might only be documents to them but this is my medical files, really important and private. They don’t give a monkeys about it!

In regards to them being originals or copies im insure, I was directed to get them printed from my gp practice and send them to them.. I have no photocopies of them or anything & was told by my gp practice that if I was to apply for documents like this in the future that there would be a charge. So basically feeling a little bit fobbed off by it all.

Jimm_Alumni

Yes, I understand GPs tend to charge for such documents now.

However, it is possible to make a subject access request on all data they have on you which by law should be free. That doesn't always make friends though.

Keep us informed if there's any updates, if it doesn't get resolved soon I'll see if I can bring up some information about the complaint process!

sparkle101

@Jimm_Scope all of this messing around really makes me wonder why I’ve put myself through the stress of an appeal. I should just complain in anyways shouldnt I, because really, it’s not on when it clearly shows signed for at their office. Thanks again for replying

jamieleehill92

@sparkle101 hey sorry to join the conversation but I've been reading your messages and would like to help if that's okay, my thoughts are instead of waiting around to see where the lost ones are is to Try and get I'm touch with your doctors and explain to them the situation that your documents have been lost and you need them ASAP I know someontimes it takes a while to request documents from doctors but that could be your next step and then inform the tribunal that your waiting for your records and it may take some time if they can wait. Or if you have the NHS app sometimes your documents can show on there and maybe get someone to print them off for you that way.

sparkle101

Hi @jamieleehill92 … doctors receptionist advised me that I should wait to see if they turn up first, maybe I’ll try & call again tomorrow & hope for a different person to answer. I’ve still heard nothing back from HMCTS but I’m going to do a live chat thing again to see if there’s any new information.
I do have access to my nhs documents online but these don’t show much, when my documents were printed there was about 225 pages, there doesn’t seem to be that much information on my app.

Do you think if I don’t get a hold of some more records it will delay my appeal by a long time?

jamieleehill92

@sparkle101 it could delay as they need evidence to help make a decision on your claim I guess. Its best asking @poppy123456 that question as I don't 100% know on that one. But yes give your doctors another call maybe

sparkle101

@jamieleehill92 just spoke to HMCTS again on the live chat. Now been informed they are working on paperwork from 16/08/2023 and I should contact them in 2 weeks …. That doesn’t make me feel any better whatsoever! I think I wanna make a complaint. I’ve been passed around so much over the last 24 hours that im
beyond stressed, to the point I’m hovering over the withdraw your appeal button

jamieleehill92

@sparkle101 don't worry about it to much if your that worried then ask for a telephone hearing so you can tell them everything that effects you daily and all your diagnosis and what medication you take. The tribunal prefers it that way anyway and I guess telling them what effects you Is alot better then what's on paper because then they have a full understanding from you. Atleast they have some evidence to go of at the moment and then at the hearing you can explain why you don't have so much evidence. They should know aswell as it should say on the notes on the system

poppy123456

I've heard of this happening before. I wouldn't say they've actually lost anything and they will eventually get to it and update your case.

sparkle101 said:

Now been informed they are working on paperwork from 16/08/2023 and I should contact them in 2 weeks ….

When you imagine just how many people appeal a benefits decision then i would say this wait is perfectly normal. They have to work through everything in order of when they received it.

Jimm_Alumni

Ah, so they've not lost it. It's just in the backlog and they are working towards it? You may want to inquire if the documents will be returned or not, as not all agencies will return evidence having assumed they are copies.

sparkle101

Hi thanks for the replies. Wish I had of been told this yesterday when I first asked… they told me it definitely hasn’t been received so obviously made my mind tick straight away. Glad this is not unusual, I’ll wait another week n maybe chase it up. Thank you very much for the replies.

poppy123456

Sorry your question wasn't answered sooner. The majority of the members here have health conditions their self and advise here freely in their own time, myself included.

I try my hardest to help and advise as many as i can but some questions do get missed because with my health condition, it's just impossible to help every single person.