u/RumSoviet

Hi Everyone,

(Just an FYI this was cross posted to R/Centrelink as well)

I am currently assisting my mother in applying for the disability support pension, as she has been unable to work.

We have been having difficulty actually obtaining evidence from doctors. The first doctor we went to (about a year ago) simply printed out a summary of medications and conditions. We were knocked back because there was no evidence of impairment linked to the tables.

We've since changed doctors and gone to a second doctor. To get around the template, I tried writing a really detailed document explaining all of mum's health conditions and issues and how the relate to the table.

For example, mum would probably be moderate under table 1 because of her COPD, as she can't really clean the house anymore without getting tired. She can't lift her arms above her head without getting breathless etc,

So on and so forth for each table.

I presented this to my mum's doctor (with her with me). He said it was fine but he wanted to rewrite it as it doesn't sound like a doctor's writing (makes sense, I work in corporate)

We got back his edited version and while it does mention she cannot work more than 8 hours per week due to her conditions, her functional capacity is a few sentences.

My question is what does Centrelink expect for evidence requirements for the DSP. Are they expecting doctors to apply the tables to diagnoses, or does Centrelink apply the symptoms to their tables.

I don't believe this is the doctor not believing her, as he has written out medical certificates for her mutual obligations, and was the one who advised her to stop working in the first place.

How does one go about even getting this evidence as it seems doctors are unfamiliar with the requirements?

Should I try Telehealth and get one of those doctors to sign off on my writings? Or is there a particular specialist or service we need to ask for?

Hi Everyone,

I am currently assisting my mother in applying for the disability support pension, as she has been unable to work.

We have been having difficulty actually obtaining evidence from doctors. The first doctor we went to (about a year ago) simply printed out a summary of medications and conditions. We were knocked back because there was no evidence of impairment linked to the tables.

We've since changed doctors and gone to a second doctor. To get around the template, I tried writing a really detailed document explaining all of mum's health conditions and issues and how the relate to the table.

For example, mum would probably be moderate under table 1 because of her COPD, as she can't really clean the house anymore without getting tired. She can't lift her arms above her head without getting breathless etc,

So on and so forth for each table.

I presented this to my mum's doctor (with her with me). He said it was fine but he wanted to rewrite it as it doesn't sound like a doctor's writing (makes sense, I work in corporate)

We got back his edited version and while it does mention she cannot work more than 8 hours per week due to her conditions, her functional capacity is a few sentences.

My question is what does Centrelink expect for evidence requirements for the DSP. Are they expecting doctors to apply the tables to diagnoses, or does Centrelink apply the symptoms to their tables.

I don't believe this is the doctor not believing her, as he has written out medical certificates for her mutual obligations, and was the one who advised her to stop working in the first place.

How does one go about even getting this evidence as it seems doctors are unfamiliar with the requirements?

Should I try Telehealth and get one of those doctors to sign off on my writings? Or is there a particular specialist or service we need to ask for?