Hi
Just thought I would let you know the following from GMC advice to GPs regarding being "fit to drive"
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/your-pr...-gmc/20030530.fullarticle#.VlWT4LMyjp8.mailto
Hope the link works ok.
Hi All,
My own view on this is based on experience and you can’t beat experience. Around two years ago I was feeling ill and drinking a lot, not really being aware of diabetic symptoms, I left it quite late to see a doctor. On the second diabetic appointment with the nurse, they found that my ketones were very high and I was sent into hospital. Whilst there, I was treated by the doctors/consultants, they started me on metformin, two 500mg tablets a day, by the end of the first week I was told that I needed to go on to insulin injections. Of course being a patient you trust the doctors/consultant to get your treatment right, unfortunately they got it wrong. When leaving the hospital, I was informed by the doctors that it was the law that I had to inform DVLA and being naive, I thought of course, I need to do this because of the chance of a hypo, the DVLA will be helpful and fair when dealing with drivers with this condition, was I wrong! I informed the DVLA and at first they where helpful, giving me a date when my licence would go to a three year licence, which would mean I would lose my grandfather rights to drive to drive a 7.5 ton vehicle until my renewal date at age 70. At first I accepted this, as it could not be helped, after all it an illness. When I went back to see the main consultant at the hospital a few week later, he told me to come off the insulin and see how it goes, as he did not think I should be on insulin. He increases my metformin to 6 x 500mg tablets a day, in the later months he decreased them to two a day and I been fine for the last two years. So I called the DVLA and they did not want to know, they refused to cancel the move to a three year licence, even if the consultant wrote a letter clearly stating this. In the end it cost me near £400 in solicitor charges to sort this out with DVLA, after which they backed down and cancelled the three year licence renewal date, I kept my grandfather rights. It all well and right having safe guards in place to stop people driving when they are unsafe to do so and I back that fully. By the same token the process they use have to be fair and any lose of driving rights like my grandfather rights should be re-instated if the situation changes with the illness and confirmed by the doctors. If the government is changing the law to ensure doctors will tell DVLA then they also need to change the DVLA way of handling the case to be fair to all!
