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-   -   Medical referral (https://britishexpats.com/forum/new-zealand-83/medical-referral-897497/)

Walfordnz Jun 1st 2017 8:48 pm

Medical referral
 
My husband lodged 9th of may and approved 17th of may (WTR) mine lodged 26th of may (partner based temp) a couple of weeks after due to a delay with needing reports for my medical and further blood tests. Today we were told my medical has been referred. Does this mean to a medical adviser? We knew that mine would most likely be referred due to health problems but I did not expect 5 weeks waiting time 😩
My husband has had to ask his employer if they will put back his start date by a month as we want to be 100% I'm going to be granted a visa before he leaves. Are employers generally ok with doing this? From what ive looked at online I'm guessing a referral never comes in any sooner then the advised time scale and will more than likely be delayed for a long period of time then stated. Although I can't see anything quite recently to be sure. I've already given extra reports that got sent with my medical and will probably send a couple more letters from my gp to state how everything is curently stable and has been for the last few years. Other than my medical issues I do have, the panel doctors never flagged up anything else even though I did have to re do bloods. Is there anything else I can do? This waiting game is intense! We was hoping we'd know and on our way the end of this month!

MrsFychan Jun 2nd 2017 6:54 am

Re: Medical referral
 
The Case Officer is not medically trained, as you would expect, so anything slightly out of the usual will get referred. If you sent in additional information the medical assessor will read it and then go from there.
Time scales, will can't comment, depends on who gets your file and how much other work they have.

Afraid there is not a lot more you can do

Walfordnz Jun 2nd 2017 11:49 am

Re: Medical referral
 
Yeah understand they are not medically trained ☺️ My Panal doctor actually made me get extra specialist reports, when she was doing the medical she said I would need to get these in so I'm hoping that's because she knew it would like be referred and those reports would be asked for. I will get used to the waiting game after the initial shock of being told a further potential 5 weeks+ Of a wait has sunk in and I've scoured the internet for answers I'm not going to find as each case is individual πŸ˜‚
I was just wondering if anyone knew, but when your e-medical is sent do they view the medical before the remainder of your visa is lodged? Could my medical have been referred even before the rest of my application had been sent? For instance my e-medical was sent on 16th of may and my lodgement received on the 26th of may.
On INZ website it states The number of cases that auto clear remains around the 70% mark, meaning these medicals are assessed within seconds of being received by INZ.

The Health Assessment Team clear around 45 to 50% of cases that do not auto clear within three days of receiving them.

Medical Assessors are receiving a small number of cases per week compared to what INZ is receiving.
.

We have a immigration adviser so are not hearing first hand what our CO is actually saying (sigh) but she has said that everything is fine pending the referral and doesn't think that i will need to go for a waiver, BUT it is done on a case by case basis and will have cross that bridge if it is to be declined.
I just feel like I'm constantly wishing time to hurry up so I can get over the next hurdle lol.

MrsFychan Jun 3rd 2017 6:06 am

Re: Medical referral
 
yeh theres the problem with using an agent, everything is second hand and takes longer and no relationship with the Case Officer.

My understanding is that if a issue comes up on your application everything stops until that is sorted, as they won't want to be doing work if it will not be needed, but as they are now using e-medical I'm not sure how it all fits together now.

Your agent should not be saying that unless they can prove it by providing you the email from the Case Officer.

Walfordnz Jun 3rd 2017 7:28 am

Re: Medical referral
 

Your agent should not be saying that unless they can prove it by providing you the email from the Case Officer.
Yup this is what I said to my husband! We should take this with a pinch of salt.
I'm going to expect the worst and hope for the best! 😁

I know we probably could have done this on our own but I don't think we would be where we are now without or immigration adviser even with the further referral. We probabaly would have missed so much information it's a minefield lol.

I'm hoping that once a MA receives my medical it will be a fast yes or no for ASH.

I have two medical conditions, ankylosing spondylitis (AS for short and is a form of arthritis) and "bipolar". During the medical the panal DR said my AS won't be a problem, she said when I walked in she would never have known and I passed all the motion tests on bending etc. I took in a report for my AS but she never took it as further evidence and said I wouldn't need it. Then when I said I had bipolar she said this would probably flag up and I would need extra reports. She typed some stuff onto the computer and she was right. The computer said I would need a psychiatrist report before they sent my e-medical to INZ. Now I wrote "bipolar" because the psychiatrist reports said this and It looks like a may have been missed diagnosed. ( it was a series of tragic events that happened one after the other that accrued in my life that caused me to have a bit of a break down)

Between 2009 and 2011 she saw a psycho-therapist at
the time which helped and she saw a trainee Psychiatrist who diagnosed her
with bipolar affective disorder and started her on Lamotrigine and an
antidepressant (Sertraline) which at the time did not help. She was also
taking B-Blockers. She has made full recovery from that episode.

She is currently not an any psychiatric medication for several years.

Today she presented clean cooperative and polite. There is no evidence of
depression and no mania. There was no evidence of anxiety. She reported
sleeping well and eating well and no excessive tiredness. She denied any
suicidal ideas. There was no evidence of aggression, agitation or
irritability. There is no evidence of psychosis. Her cognition was intact.

Opinion and recommendations:

Diagnosis: There is no evidence of any mental illness at the moment.

Looking at the psychiatric notes, and the history appears to be more of an
age of an adjustment disorder, rather than a bipolar affective disorder. The
diagnosis I am not sure that what she experienced at the time was actually
bipolar affective disorder. She reported that at the time there was
overspending, which was not out of control she could behave as elated, but
that was in the context of a very fast fluctuation which doesn't keep with
the pattern of bipolar affective disorder, not even within rapid cycling
bipolar presentation.

There is no evidence of drugs or alcohol misuse.

There is no evidence no evidence of a personality disorder.

Prognosis: Her prognosis is very good. The chances of a relapse are very
low.

Risks assessment: All risks are low, including the risk of self-harm and
suicide. The risk of violence is low.

Capacity: She has capacity to consent to her treatment.

Going on this I'm hoping they don't need more evidence or any further reports on both medical issues. But I guess at least I have already required the AS report ready for them if they need it.

when i've been through forums people with similar issues don't seam to want to update their progress or what the out come was that often lol. So I will promise to do that here 😁 And keep this post updated with any progress good or bad news that I may have!

escapedtonz Jun 3rd 2017 8:07 am

Re: Medical referral
 

Originally Posted by Walfordnz (Post 12264352)
My husband lodged 9th of may and approved 17th of may (WTR) mine lodged 26th of may (partner based temp) a couple of weeks after due to a delay with needing reports for my medical and further blood tests. Today we were told my medical has been referred. Does this mean to a medical adviser? We knew that mine would most likely be referred due to health problems but I did not expect 5 weeks waiting time 😩
My husband has had to ask his employer if they will put back his start date by a month as we want to be 100% I'm going to be granted a visa before he leaves. Are employers generally ok with doing this? From what ive looked at online I'm guessing a referral never comes in any sooner then the advised time scale and will more than likely be delayed for a long period of time then stated. Although I can't see anything quite recently to be sure. I've already given extra reports that got sent with my medical and will probably send a couple more letters from my gp to state how everything is curently stable and has been for the last few years. Other than my medical issues I do have, the panel doctors never flagged up anything else even though I did have to re do bloods. Is there anything else I can do? This waiting game is intense! We was hoping we'd know and on our way the end of this month!

Yes. Referral will be to a Medical Assessor. As MrsF states, the Immigration CO is not medically trained.......well they maybe medically trained, but Immigration Law dictates they cannot make any decision based on a medical report UNLESS a trained Medical Assessor has provided written advice on the matter. So as an example, if Immigration decide to decline a visa based on too high costs to the NZ Health System, the CO must have an MA report advising that the individual doesn't meet the criteria and will cost the NZ Health System too much.
So, now to the MA.
There are a number of MA's in NZ. They are simply :o GP's who have been authorised by Immigration NZ to make a decision on a persons prognosis and costs to the NZ Health System by a referred Medical Report. Due to being in a highly stressful busy job as a GP they don't have the time to be knocking out these reports in a day........they take weeks and as I'm sure you'll understand, they are GP's. They don't specialize in your specific issue so may have to research Doctor Google or contact a specialist in that particular field for more info or guidance.
Unfortunately there's nothing you can do to speed it up. It takes as long as it takes.
My wife's report was referred to the MA and we were delayed 13 months for RV. We could have got through earlier via waiver but fought the decision instead.

Walfordnz Jun 6th 2017 9:29 pm

Re: Medical referral
 

Originally Posted by escapedtonz (Post 12265128)
Unfortunately there's nothing you can do to speed it up. It takes as long as it takes.
My wife's report was referred to the MA and we were delayed 13 months for RV. We could have got through earlier via waiver but fought the decision instead.


Oh no what a lengthy process, did everything turn out ok in the end?



So my husband spoke to someone on the phone today, he said they wasn't much help. As they knew as much as us if not less. All they could say that my application was sent on the 26th of may and lodged the 30th due to bank holiday, fair enough. But they was unaware about any referral. I do not have a CO which I thought may have been the case with if I have been referred and was told that We need to wait 10 days for an update. On what I don't know. I'm taking everything with a pinch of salt at the moment.

escapedtonz Jun 7th 2017 5:57 am

Re: Medical referral
 

Originally Posted by Walfordnz (Post 12267576)
Oh no what a lengthy process, did everything turn out ok in the end?



So my husband spoke to someone on the phone today, he said they wasn't much help. As they knew as much as us if not less. All they could say that my application was sent on the 26th of may and lodged the 30th due to bank holiday, fair enough. But they was unaware about any referral. I do not have a CO which I thought may have been the case with if I have been referred and was told that We need to wait 10 days for an update. On what I don't know. I'm taking everything with a pinch of salt at the moment.


Yes it did.
We fought because the MA's report on the issue was complete and utter crap. We employed the services of an NZ specialist to write a report given all my wife's medical history and the DVD's of her investigative surgeries and his report didn't agree with the MA's therefore Immigration had no alternative but to reverse the decline decision and approve RV, but as I said it delayed us 13 months and we never even received an apology :blink:

Walfordnz Jun 8th 2017 12:01 pm

Re: Medical referral
 

Originally Posted by escapedtonz (Post 12267751)
Yes it did.
We fought because the MA's report on the issue was complete and utter crap. We employed the services of an NZ specialist to write a report given all my wife's medical history and the DVD's of her investigative surgeries and his report didn't agree with the MA's therefore Immigration had no alternative but to reverse the decline decision and approve RV, but as I said it delayed us 13 months and we never even received an apology :blink:

Glad it all work out ok in then end! I hope that the panal doctor not taking one of my reports won't be a problem but no doubt it will πŸ˜’ Sigh...
Did you wait for your wife's visa to be granted or did you go before?

escapedtonz Jun 8th 2017 1:10 pm

Re: Medical referral
 

Originally Posted by Walfordnz (Post 12268758)
Glad it all work out ok in then end! I hope that the panal doctor not taking one of my reports won't be a problem but no doubt it will πŸ˜’ Sigh...
Did you wait for your wife's visa to be granted or did you go before?

Because the Mrs was the partner applicant in our RV application, the whole application was declined on the grounds that the partner didn't have an acceptable standard of health so we had no option but to fight it together.

Walfordnz Jun 14th 2017 2:08 pm

Re: Medical referral
 
A little up date after only 10 working days of our medical being referred we have had a reply from the MA. Wants an updated report on my ankylosing spondylitis and prognosis for next 5-10 years. And wants to know The history and medical needs the calcified soft tissue densities adjacent to the lateral aspect of the 7th/8th ribs on the right.

I'm shocked as have no idea what it this we have until the 28th to send the reports back.

I'm annoyed that the panel doctors did not tell me something was wrong with my ribs.
Never look up on google bad idea!!

MrsFychan Jun 14th 2017 7:58 pm

Re: Medical referral
 
my panel doctor never told me about shadow on lung, even though I asked to be informed. It was only when we took out application in personally and the staff member went through the application that I was informed about it. I was shocked and went immediately to my own GP to discuss. She sent me that day for an xray and the results came back as old injury probably from a bout of pleurisy I had years back. GP assured me it was not a problem and was prepared to write a detailed explanation if required.
For me it was not required as the assessor obviously came to the same conclusion and medical was sent back with no further documentation or evidence required.

So get hold of your own GP, explain the situation and see what they say.

Walfordnz Jun 14th 2017 8:13 pm

Re: Medical referral
 

Originally Posted by MrsFychan (Post 12273267)
my panel doctor never told me about shadow on lung, even though I asked to be informed. It was only when we took out application in personally and the staff member went through the application that I was informed about it. I was shocked and went immediately to my own GP to discuss. She sent me that day for an xray and the results came back as old injury probably from a bout of pleurisy I had years back. GP assured me it was not a problem and was prepared to write a detailed explanation if required.
For me it was not required as the assessor obviously came to the same conclusion and medical was sent back with no further documentation or evidence required.

So get hold of your own GP, explain the situation and see what they say.


Glad it turned out all ok for you and they were good at realising that it was an old scar.
I've managed to get an appointment with an ankylosing spondylitis(AS) specialist this Saturday. The MA has said that the calcification issue can be added to the report from the AS specialist or be a report from the GP so I'm hoping that it may be due to the AS as it can form new bone growth, which I believe starts of as calcification (a lot guessing here at the moment lol) and that if it was anything more sinister they would have asked me to get a report else where. I've gone privately to a specialist as it was a quicker route then my GP. My GP has call back appointment with the doctor before. The receptionist make doesn't make an appointment until after the call with the doctor. It's along process if you do need to see someone fast.

Pretty pleased with how fast the MA got back to us. With reading online I was expecting a long wait for initial contact.

Walfordnz Jun 18th 2017 8:10 pm

Re: Medical referral
 
I've seen the specialist and he's said my prognosis is very very good. He just needs MRI scans and blood test from my initial diagnosis so he can make sure my diagnosis was correct.

As for the calcification he looked at my X-ray from the medical and was shocked as he did not see anything on my ribs what so ever! So he is wondering where they got this information from. The report attached to my X-ray stated that everything was normal heart lungs ribs etc were all normal. Nothing at all about this calcified soft tissue. He let me have a look at the report and X-ray and he was right nothing to be seen or stated about this in my x-ray. So the specialist is going to put this in his report. I'm hoping this issue they believe I have doesn't hold things up any more.

MrsFychan Jun 20th 2017 7:19 am

Re: Medical referral
 
glad Specialist is on board and everything is looking good.
odd about the ribs though


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