When you get ‘that’ letter from Centrelink …

These days Centrelink contact me via my My Gov account, notifications come up as a text message. I hate getting these messages usually because I dread having a review, not because I don’t feel I’m eligible, rather the uncertainty that surrounds a review. Well on the 23rd June 2017 I finally got an online letter titled:
‘Your Disability Support Pension – Medical Eligibility Review‘
This letter asked me to provide current medical evidence. And so it begun …

Calling Centrelink’s Complaints and Feedback Line

As I mentioned in a earlier post I had tried extensively to contact Centrelink via phone in order to extend the time frame in which I could hand in the medical evidence required. When, after a few days, I couldn’t get through I called the complaints line. I waited 40 minutes on the phone.

Customer Service Representatives on the complains/feedback line are always very nice, they are there to solve your issue and I suggest no matter how angry or frustrated you are you should be firm and assertive but also polite. Being polite and to the point helps them understand your complain and in my opinion you are more likely to be listened to.

I had three initial complaints about the Medical Eligibility Review I had received.

1. The time frame was not long enough to gather evidence.
   This review extends way beyond the old method of getting your GP to fill out a Treating Doctors Report. You are required to gather evidence, I will talk about gathering evidence soon. In my situation when I received my letter my GP was on six weeks leave, one of my two specialists was also away from the office, so that was an immediate delay. By calling Centrelink I was able to extend my time frame until mid August adding six weeks to the original due date.
2. There is no form for your GP and/or Specialist to fill out.
   My GP and Specialists are extremely time poor, asking for a letter to support my review was something I dreaded as I felt like I was creating more work for them and I feared that maybe they wouldn’t have time to support my review, in addition I wondered what is it that they should be writing?  So my second complaint was the lack of a form to take to the GP/Specialist,  the response I was given from the Complaints line Customer Service Representative was that the reason there was no form was because everyone’s medical issue/ disability was different. I call BS on this as I constructed a my own basic format which my treating health professionals could and did follow.
3. Centrelink needs to assume that the person they are contacting for a review is actually unwell or disabled in some way.
   I feel more care needs to be taken when contacting someone for a review. As a person on the DSP, I feel it needs to be assumed that the person contacted is entitled to the payment and that they are already struggling with whatever condition that has made them eligible for the DSP in the first place.I do not think it is a stretch to make this review process easier, for example, including an information sheet or form that could be taken to the treating GP/Specialist. Also the addition of a dedicated 1800 should immediately be made available to clients being reviewed. I feel Centrelink have grossly underestimated the emotional toll this review has on their clients.

Are you being reviewed? What changes could Centrelink employ to make the review process easier?

 

Will I get a Job Capacity Assessment?

YES! I was told by a staff member at Centrelink that everyone who is going through a Medical Eligibility Review will also have a Job Capacity Assessment.

Let me know in the comments if you have had a Medical Eligibility Review, had your DSP Review approved and didn’t have a JCA.

I do realise that Centrelink need to carry out reviews but …

Yes of course Centrelink need to carry out reviews, but something about this new process didn’t feel right.

One of the first things I noticed on the letter I had received was the date I was required to have the information in by. The date on my letter was the 23 June 2017 and I was told that if I was able to provide medical evidence I needed to do so by the 14 July.

In my books four weeks to gather current medical evidence is not enough, and funny enough Centrelink also agree but they don’t tell you that.

In the letter I was prompted to call Centrelink if I felt I couldn’t provide the paperwork by the date mentioned. Having received the letter on a Friday, by Monday the 26 July, I called the 1800 number provided to ask for an extension, I tried no less than 30 times throughout the day and never once got a connection, only a busy dial tone.

After trying a few times on Tuesday with the same result, I called the complaints line on the Wednesday. The Customer Service Representative on the complaints line was able to apply an extension. I made a complaint about not being able to get through on the phone and also mentioned that the timeframe didn’t seem long enough as I was going to be relying on my specialists to provide information, I am going to paraphrase her reply:

We don’t actually think you will be able to get the paperwork in at that time so we automatically add at least three weeks to that date, then we might start a process that suspends your payment.  

So it seems that Centrelink know their request for current medical evidence is time poor as there is an immediate extension date that will be applied but instead giving customers longer time frames in the first instance they tell you in the letter that your payment may be stopped if you don’t comply by the date provided. In addition, at the time I was trying to arrange an extension, there was no dedicated telephone number in which to arrange one.

Do you think this is a transparent way to deal with people we need to assume are ill?

Then the fear set in

I received my medical review letter via my My Gov account and after reading it a few times I realised that this was not the normal Treating Doctors Report review I had been used to and the whole review process has now changed. From what I have read the Treating Doctors Report was phased out on the 1st July 2015

Centrelink state that they now conduct reviews because the rules around the DSP have changed since 2012 and that there are new impairment tables. I will go on to discuss impairment tables as these will be very important to you if you are having your own review.

Reading the letter several times I noted that there was a huge onus on myself to provide medical evidence and unlike a Treating Doctors Report there was no form to fill in, this was starting to feel overwhelming, I have anxiety so I became quite symptomatic with the process I was going to have to undertake.