Housing Letters and GP Letters of Support
Woodland Road Surgery is committed to supporting our patients. However, when applying for benefits, housing, passes, adjustments or any other matter where medical conditions may be relevant, we will only supply this information when approached formally by a third party for a factual report.
We will not supply letters of support directly to patients.
Please note all requests from the third party will require the patients’ formal consent.
We will only complete factual responses. We are not able to give an opinion. If in doubt we will refuse to complete the request and may issue a copy of medical records instead with your consent.
Be aware we charge for any requests.
Housing Applications
We do not provide letters for housing, so please do not request these. Whilst we appreciate that housing problems can be stressful, this is a matter for the council housing office. If the council requires additional medical information, they will send a specific form to the GP surgery. You will need to provide your written consent for this.
If you are intending to apply for a council home for health reasons you do not need to send a letter from the GP.
The Council will write, in confidence, to your doctor if further information is required.
GPs receive frequent requests for medical letters and reports in support of housing applications from a variety of sources – the local authority, housing associations, directly from patients and from patients via Citizens Advice Bureau. The arrangements for seeking GP reports and for payment vary from local authority area to local authority area, and even when clearly agreed are often not implemented by local authority staff. However all requests should come via the Council or Housing Association and not the patient.
Information in support an application based on health grounds should be supplied by the applicant using a form provided by the Housing Department (self-assessment). This should not require any input from the GP/practice.
Only if additional information is required, should the Housing Department Medical Officer obtain it from the applicant’s doctor, preferably using a standard form, provided the patient has given written consent. The Medical Officer should seek information which is only available to the GP, for example:
- the diagnosis;
- severity of the illness;
- medication
We understand that patients are often wrongly advised to get a letter from their GP and we can supply you with a letter outlining the above that you can show to anyone wrongly directing you to us for such documentation.
