11.3.4 The letter of request for medical examination/opinion

The Defcare Standard Letter suite contains sep — arate letters appropriate specifically for enquiries to ADF Health, to the current treating doctor and to a consultant medical specialist commissioned to examine the client for the purposes of a medical opinion on liability. In all of those cases, the Del — e — gate is free to ask additional questions or add remarks, but the appropriate questionnaire attachment should also be retained.

Delegates should be sure to include:

1.a clear statement of the reasons for the request, and

2.all other available medical i — nformation relevant to the case.

Delegates may of course modify this 'letter of request' to include further information they consider relevant to the case, or to ask additional, more detailed questions or those relating to issues of potential entitlement. Doctors should also be encouraged to provide detailed 'narrative' reports on their examination and assessment of the client's condition in addition to the brief formal responses to the questionnaire. In fact such details (clinical history, tests underta — k — en, alternatives excluded, reasons for opinion) are necessary for Delegates to form an opinion on the reliability of the doctor's conclusions. However, Delegates should not usually remove questions from the standard questionnaire, as this requests the min — i — mum information required to process the claim beyond this point.