# 'Major failings' in DVLA medical fitness to drive cases



## Northerner (Oct 20, 2016)

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is not making fair decisions about medical fitness-to-drive cases, a report has suggested.

It said people's lives had been put on hold for years because of flawed decision-making and poor communication.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report found "major failings" in eight drivers' cases.

The DVLA said the vast majority of cases it handles are dealt with swiftly and correctly.

Criticisms in the report are directed at the Drivers' Medical Group - the part of the DVLA which considers whether drivers with a medical condition are safe to drive.

The DMG makes between 600,000 and 750,000 licensing decisions every year and around 10% of those are complex cases dealt with by medical experts.

The report looked at eight complaints in detail which were received by the ombudsman between 2014 and 2015.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37703036

I don't drive, but I imagine this resonates with a lot of people, from some of the posts I've read


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## grovesy (Oct 20, 2016)

I just saw the tail end of this on Breakfast News!


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## mikeyB (Oct 20, 2016)

Ermm, 8 people who decided to make a fuss? I think that's bloody good performance from such a big organisation. Driving is a multiple faceted skill, and it's surprisingly tricky for medical advisers to assess whether someone is truly fit to drive in all circumstances. That lorry driver, for example, has a psychiatric condition which needs psychotropic drugs to control. How does that affect your ability to drive long distances? Does it bother you that this lorry driver might be driving the big artic that is behind you on the motorway?
See what I mean?


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## Northerner (Oct 20, 2016)

mikeyB said:


> Ermm, 8 people who decided to make a fuss? I think that's bloody good performance from such a big organisation. Driving is a multiple faceted skill, and it's surprisingly tricky for medical advisers to assess whether someone is truly fit to drive in all circumstances. That lorry driver, for example, has a psychiatric condition which needs psychotropic drugs to control. How does that affect your ability to drive long distances? Does it bother you that this lorry driver might be driving the big artic that is behind you on the motorway?
> See what I mean?


Actually, what worried me more was that when I was diagnosed I was in a ward with a poorly controlled 35st Type 2 on insulin who made his living as a lorry driver - unlicensed  He was in for leg ulcers that wouldn't heal and sent his daughter out for family-sized McDonald's every night because the hospital food only filled a corner  I've often wondered what happened to him! 

There are so many people driving who are a danger to others, one of the reasons I have never pursued my license after failing my test 25 years ago. When I was 10 I was knocked down on a zebra crossing and the copper in a panda car coming the other way thought I'd be dead by the time he reached me 

Roll on driverless cars, I say!


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## Owen (Oct 20, 2016)

Northerner said:


> Actually, what worried me more was that when I was diagnosed I was in a ward with a poorly controlled 35st Type 2 on insulin who made his living as a lorry driver - unlicensed  He was in for leg ulcers that wouldn't heal and sent his daughter out for family-sized McDonald's every night because the hospital food only filled a corner  I've often wondered what happened to him!
> 
> There are so many people driving who are a danger to others, one of the reasons I have never pursued my license after failing my test 25 years ago. When I was 10 I was knocked down on a zebra crossing and the copper in a panda car coming the other way thought I'd be dead by the time he reached me
> 
> Roll on driverless cars, I say!


They're already here, they call them trains.


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## Northerner (Oct 20, 2016)

Owen said:


> They're already here, they call them trains.


Much prefer trains to other forms of transport!


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