Commonwealth Doctor Medical

[Guest angedoon]

My Mum's medical has been forwarded on to one of the commonwealth doctors for further investigation. Has anyone else had this and or is it bad news?

[Guest angedoon]

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[Guest Gollywobbler]

My Mum's medical has been forwarded on to one of the commonwealth doctors for further investigation. Has anyone else had this and or is it bad news?

 

Hi Angedoon

 

My mother's CPV 143 medical was also "referred" in the same way as the one for your Mum.

 

My mother was 85 at the time. The MOC wanted a consultant geriatrician to examine Mum. That was done and Mum then sailed through the medical criteria for permanent migration to Oz.

 

Do you know of any reason why your Mum's medicals have been referred to the MOC?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest angedoon]

Hi Angedoon

 

My mother's CPV 143 medical was also "referred" in the same way as the one for your Mum.

 

My mother was 85 at the time. The MOC wanted a consultant geriatrician to examine Mum. That was done and Mum then sailed through the medical criteria for permanent migration to Oz.

 

Do you know of any reason why your Mum's medicals have been referred to the MOC?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

Hi Gill,

 

Yes, It's because there was protein and blood in her urine test. This happens everytime she has a test and has done for about twenty years (the blood anyway). At the initail medical she was sent off for extra tests scans of the kidneys etc and everything was clear. Any ideas?

Thanks

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill,

 

Yes, It's because there was protein and blood in her urine test. This happens everytime she has a test and has done for about twenty years (the blood anyway). At the initail medical she was sent off for extra tests scans of the kidneys etc and everything was clear. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

Hi there

 

The Panel Doctor is bound to have reported the matter to the MOC by ticking Box B on your Mum's Form 26.

 

It sounds to me like her meds file has been sent to the MOC solely so that a second doctor can have a look at the results and agree that although the findings are unusual, there is no real problem to worry about.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest angedoon]

Hi there

 

The Panel Doctor is bound to have reported the matter to the MOC by ticking Box B on your Mum's Form 26.

 

It sounds to me like her meds file has been sent to the MOC solely so that a second doctor can have a look at the results and agree that although the findings are unusual, there is no real problem to worry about.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

I hope so, she said they have written to her (letter not received yet) for more info, so I hope it's just a matter of her seeing a specialist who can tell the MOC that it's not a financial drain. Fingers crossed!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

I hope so, she said they have written to her (letter not received yet) for more info, so I hope it's just a matter of her seeing a specialist who can tell the MOC that it's not a financial drain. Fingers crossed!

 

Hi there

 

The Letter! I was in the UK. Mum was in Perth visiting my sister Elaine when The Letter arrived, out of the blue, between Christmas and the New Year in 2005/2006.

 

Elaine rang me, panicking. She gasped, "The Letter is sealed and the covering letter says to give it to a GP. Do you think it would be OK if I steamed The Letter open to see what it says?"

 

Me: "I wouldn't bother with steam. I'd open the thing with a knife. You are only going to give it to Dr Oi in Perth. He won't make a fuss about the idea that you've opened it!"

 

That was agreed and so we found out about the MOC's wish for Mum to see a consultant geriatrician.

 

Mum's initial meds had been done in the UK, shortly before she went to Oz for a visit. Mum's GP in the UK, Dr Oi and the Panel Doctor had all examined Mum and none of them had said a word about involving a geriatrician, so the MOC's demand scared me.

 

Dr Oi and the Panel Doctor both harrumphed, saying, "What a bloody silly idea. If Mrs X required a geriatrician I'd have referred her to one myself. This is nothing but the MOC going OTT as usual. Stop worrying!" They were both correct, it turned out.

 

The MOC acts alone - one solo GP. According to the RACP, this solo GP often knows nothing about the medical condition which is causing the good doctor some concern:

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/subs/sub080.pdf

 

The MOC might want a consultant urologist to do a special test to rule out cancer or similar.

 

A friend of mine went through similar hassles with his own visa meds. Rob has 2 kidneys but his kidneys are much smaller than normal, apparently. He said that this means he only has about 50% of the kidney function that is normal for a man of his age. The MOC told Rob'c consultant nephrologist to do a kidney biopsy. The consultant said, "No. In my [superior] clinical judgement, Rob does not need a kidney biopsy for any medical reason. I am not prepared to risk infection and damage to a kidney with an invasive procedure that neither the man or his kidneys require merely because you [GP MOC] don't know what you are talking about."

 

That was that. The MOC backed off and agreed that a biopsy was not necessary.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest angedoon]

Hi there

 

The Letter! I was in the UK. Mum was in Perth visiting my sister Elaine when The Letter arrived, out of the blue, between Christmas and the New Year in 2005/2006.

 

Elaine rang me, panicking. She gasped, "The Letter is sealed and the covering letter says to give it to a GP. Do you think it would be OK if I steamed The Letter open to see what it says?"

 

Me: "I wouldn't bother with steam. I'd open the thing with a knife. You are only going to give it to Dr Oi in Perth. He won't make a fuss about the idea that you've opened it!"

 

That was agreed and so we found out about the MOC's wish for Mum to see a consultant geriatrician.

 

Mum's initial meds had been done in the UK, shortly before she went to Oz for a visit. Mum's GP in the UK, Dr Oi and the Panel Doctor had all examined Mum and none of them had said a word about involving a geriatrician, so the MOC's demand scared me.

 

Dr Oi and the Panel Doctor both harrumphed, saying, "What a bloody silly idea. If Mrs X required a geriatrician I'd have referred her to one myself. This is nothing but the MOC going OTT as usual. Stop worrying!" They were both correct, it turned out.

 

The MOC acts alone - one solo GP. According to the RACP, this solo GP often knows nothing about the medical condition which is causing the good doctor some concern:

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/subs/sub080.pdf

 

The MOC might want a consultant urologist to do a special test to rule out cancer or similar.

 

A friend of mine went through similar hassles with his own visa meds. Rob has 2 kidneys but his kidneys are much smaller than normal, apparently. He said that this means he only has about 50% of the kidney function that is normal for a man of his age. The MOC told Rob'c consultant nephrologist to do a kidney biopsy. The consultant said, "No. In my [superior] clinical judgement, Rob does not need a kidney biopsy for any medical reason. I am not prepared to risk infection and damage to a kidney with an invasive procedure that neither the man or his kidneys require merely because you [GP MOC] don't know what you are talking about."

 

That was that. The MOC backed off and agreed that a biopsy was not necessary.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

Thanks I will keep you posted! :chatterbox:

[Guest angedoon]

Well I'm back with an update!! Mum's medical is now clear, after two months of back and forth to a Urologist, her urine test has now come back all clear, very bizarre as no treatment was given! Her GP was a chocolate teapot and even told her that she needed to brace herself as she probably had a serious diesese and that she wouldn't get a visa (the specialist was fantastic)! All I can say is that it really has been a stressful time for her and a useless GP didn't help matters. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not over till "the fat lady sings". Now looking forward to Mum being here around the end of April.

Good luck to all going through medical dilemas, hang in there!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Angedoon

 

Thanks very much for the update. I'm DELIGHTED to hear that the MOC has given your Mum the medical all-clear. :jiggy:

 

My Mum's visa sticker was a bit of a disappointment, really! The Instructions were that 2 clear pages of her passport were needed, side by side preferably, or one clear leaf so that 2 sides were clear. From that, I assumed that a sticker for Permanent migration to Oz "must be" a 2-page thing. I trusted that it would be suitably elaborate as well, considering the price.....!

 

I live on the South Coast, about 75 miles from central London. It was not worth the hassle of traipsing to London to get Mum's visa sticker, I felt. I sent her passport by post, using Special Delivery both ways.

 

The passport was back with me in 5 working days, which included two days for the postage. It was really quick. The sticker was disappointing and only on one page of Mum's passport, so I wondered what the second empty page was needed for?

 

Mum has since told me that when she went to Oz on her CPV, they put the usual "entered Australia on dd/mm/yyyy" stamp in her passport and carefully put the stamp on the page facing Mum's visa. The penny dropped! Apparently one does not stamp the visa label itself and I can see the sense of putting the important entry stamp as close as possible to the visa label, and then leaving the stamped page alone, so that the date will stand out and will be linked to the visa label.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest angedoon]

I can't believe it's still so old fashioned!! Mum's specialist papers went back to Sydney yesterday, but I'm counting that as all clear as the report says no probs! The way they kept her waiting was almost cruel but that has more to do with the UK health system than the visa process, another reason to leave! But all good news!

[Guest angedoon]

You are not going to believe this but they have requested more information about my Mum's health! It's the same question as before a five year prognosis. This was done and received in Sydney two weeks ago!!! I have emailed our case worker this time and asked for his input as it really seems excessive and needlessly costly! This has been going on since dec 09, it seems so cruel to keep her hanging like this. Has anyone else heard of this happening??

 

Ange

:arghh:

[Guest angedoon]

You are not going to believe this but they have requested more information about my Mum's health! It's the same question as before a five year prognosis. This was done and received in Sydney two weeks ago!!! I have emailed our case worker this time and asked for his input as it really seems excessive and needlessly costly! This has been going on since dec 09, it seems so cruel to keep her hanging like this. Has anyone else heard of this happening??

 

Ange

:arghh:

 

Well the plot certainly thickened! After sending an email to the Health Operations Centre we got an email back from a senior MOC to say that he had reviewed Mum's file and in his opinion they had enough information to proceed with her visa and to disregard the second request for information! The next day we got the "health assesment" all clear and the request for the second VAC!!

Things can change in the blink of an eye, and the rollercoaster of emotion now seems to be at an end.

I think you are right Gill about questioning them, it makes me wonder though if we hadn't how far we would have to have gone for an outcome and what that outcome might have been.

Here's to a visa grant in the next couple of weeks!

Thanks for all your help.

Ange

:wink:

[cchristine]

Dear Ange

Congrats to your mum, getting the "medical all clear" for her CPV. I'm very jealous, my mum missed out.

Best wishes for a smooth journey and a great life.:yes:

[Guest angedoon]

Thanks but that's awful for you! Hope you can find a good situation for your Mum.

 

Ange

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Dear Ange

Congrats to your mum, getting the "medical all clear" for her CPV. I'm very jealous, my mum missed out.

Best wishes for a smooth journey and a great life.:yes:

 

Hi cchristine

 

Welcome to Poms in Oz.

 

I am appalled by your news, though. I do know of the occasional case where a Parent has failed the medicals for migration but the MRT doctor (the Review Medical Officer of the Commonwealth) has overruled the findings of the MOC doctor in a fair few cases.

 

Also the Joint Standing Committee on Migration is in the process of giving the entire Health requirement for Oz a good shake-up which I, personally, believe is long overdue.

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/index.htm

 

The terms of reference talk about disability only but the Health legislation for migration treats disability and disease identically and in the same provisions, so the whole thing is getting a shake-up by default.

 

Is your Mum's a situation where there is genuinely nothing to be done, or is it a situation where it is worth a fight because Mum might well win it if the MOC is challenged?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[cchristine]

Hi Gill

Thanks for your interest in my Mum's case. I have read many of your posts, links and info over the past 2 years.

My Mum is all alone, housebound and struggling with personal care in the UK. So we applied for CPV. She met every criteria except health and the visa was refused. The MRT upheld the decision after new reports submitted to the RMOC still showed that a hypothetical person with Mum's condition would cost the Oz Govt too much money.:arghh:So since Mum is over 80 now, health unlikely to improve, no-one to help her in an emergency, I have asked for ministerial intervention on compassionate grounds. There are a lot of stages to this proceedure. It is not simple for an ordinary person and takes a LONG time. However, it means there is still a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel if Mum lives long enough.

On a brighter note, I've just returned from another visit to pamper Mum in the UK. The weather was glorious and the volcano stopped errupting just in time for me to catch my flight back to Perth.

Thanks again Gill for all your input into this site.

Regards.....Chris

[Ozzieland]

My mom had a similar problem with her medicals. She was 70 years. We are in India and when we went for her medicals, the doc said everything was ok. However, her case was referred and she was asked to do a sputum test and a fresh xray. What was really difficult about this is that to do a sputum test it takes 3 sittings and 6 weeks to process. There was no option but for us everything was clear. The redone xrays were clear as well with a Chest specialist report. However our doc told us to send another report (since even the first xray was clear) from a cardiologist as he said that otherwise the reports would be returned and they could ask for endless tests to be done. Everything went well for us and she is now enjoying Oz.

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill

Thanks for your interest in my Mum's case. I have read many of your posts, links and info over the past 2 years.

My Mum is all alone, housebound and struggling with personal care in the UK. So we applied for CPV. She met every criteria except health and the visa was refused. The MRT upheld the decision after new reports submitted to the RMOC still showed that a hypothetical person with Mum's condition would cost the Oz Govt too much money.:arghh:So since Mum is over 80 now, health unlikely to improve, no-one to help her in an emergency, I have asked for ministerial intervention on compassionate grounds. There are a lot of stages to this proceedure. It is not simple for an ordinary person and takes a LONG time. However, it means there is still a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel if Mum lives long enough.

On a brighter note, I've just returned from another visit to pamper Mum in the UK. The weather was glorious and the volcano stopped errupting just in time for me to catch my flight back to Perth.

Thanks again Gill for all your input into this site.

Regards.....Chris

 

Hi Chris

 

Thank you very much for sharing the information above.

 

I am shocked, though I cannot claim to be surprised. The threshold figure of $21,000 AUD is far too low, is out of date and has not been revisited since this totally arbitrary figure was first decided upon in the second half of the 1990s.

 

DIAC were content to do nothing about it until their Minister pushed them into action via asking the Joint Standing Committee on Migration to get involved. DIAC are now saying - somewhat belatedly - that they think the figure should be revised upwards to $100,000. I think that it should be revised, it should be index linked and that control of any part of the Health requirement for migration should be removed from DIAC altogether. I think that DoHA and FaHCSIA should control it between them. DIAC are pen pushers who know about visas. They have no medical expertise to speak of.

 

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians have told the Inquiry that caring for people like your mother actually costs the Australian Government almost nothing because most of the care is provided by the elderly person's family, at home, at zero cost to anyone else. I disaprove of the reality that the MOC is allowed to invent the so-called 'facts' as he goes along, frankly, given that the Physicians are undoubtedly correct about what really happens.

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/subs/sub080.pdf

 

We were lucky with my own mother, who was 85 and disabled by the time her CPV was granted in 2006. My own submission to the Inquiry is #19 and I have made the point that it is not up to the Aussie Government to decide whether or not my Aussie nephews should have the benefit of having their British grandmother with them.

 

DIAC's only contribution to the debate is that the MOC doctors saved the Aussie Government about $70 million in 2007-8, according to the MOC doctor who is neither an Actuary or a Health Economist but was nevertheless told to do the sums apparently.

 

When did you lodge your appeal to the Minister? Have his staff given you any indication of how long he might take to make up his mind about the case of somebody who is already over 80? Surely he doesn't want another Mrs Agha type of scandal on his hands? Nowadays, bad news travels fast and it crosses international borders.

 

GP blames death on visa dispute - Immigration - Features - In Depth

 

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1450131.htm

 

Have you described your family's predicament to the Inquiry Committee? In your shoes, I would do so but I would stress to them that your own submission should be confidential. They would respect your wishes about that, I assure you, as they have done with some of the other submissions as well.

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/subs.htm

 

DIAC are hot to trot with the idea that they should advise the Minister that the threshold should be increased to $100,000. They are simply waiting for the figures from DoHA or somebody, which would back up DIAC's - sudden and belated - calls for the threshold figure to be increased. Which might well make a difference in your Mum's case. With the elderly, the threshold figure is divided by 3, not by 5, to get the annual theoretical figure.

 

With my mother, the MOC asked cheekily whether or not she might need residential care within the next 5 years. The Consultant Geriatrician in Perth was an old boy called Professor Cohen. In his Report, he told the MOC firmly that when somebody is over 80, it is impossible to make predictions beyond the end of the current week, let alone for anything as silly as 5 years - which did quite a bit to silence the MOC, I suspect. He also said that by far the best place for Mum is at home, in the bosom of her family, where she currently lives with my sister, her husband and their two sons.

 

The current Inquiry is not a waste of time. In the Public Hearing in Melbourne, the Committee Chairman, Mr Michael Danby, told the assembled protestors who gave evidence that they were preaching to the converted in trying to get him to understand their arguments. He told them that historically the Government has often not liked recommendations from the Joint Standing Committee but that Governments have historically followed the JSC's recommondations, despite not liking them.

 

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/hearings.htm

 

The Committee is due to go to Perth at some stage. In your shoes, I would be inclined to ring up the Inquiry Secretary to ask her when the Committee will be heading for Perth. I would also make it my business to attend the Public Hearing in Perth and to give evidence to the Committee about your own predicament. (They will hear you in private, if you wish, because yours is a very sensitive case and in your shoes, I wouldn't want the details of it to be aired in public.)

 

I will keep fingers, toes and eyes crossed for you and your Mum and if there is anything at all that I can do to help, please let me know.

 

Hugs :hug:

 

Gill

[cchristine]

Hi Gill

Thanks for the friendly informative reply. I don't know how you spare the time to give all this advice. Someone should pay you lots of money!

I have asked if elderly people get any priority with their visa appeals, and the answer was yes. However, there are lots of oldies in the pipeline apparently. The oldest is 98, so my Mum is not top priority. Each case has many different issues, and the whole lot has to retyped after lodgement, in catagories for presentation to the Minister. Some of them have hundreds of pages by that stage.

My Mum's case was lodged about 7 months ago, and I am just grateful that it hasn't been culled out yet by the ministerial intervention unit. No news is good news, hopefully.

I read your submission to the Inquiry Committee. It was all so true and well presented. At the moment I can't bring myself to attempt any offering like that. Maybe when Mum gets a decision on her case, my stomach will unknot and I will function normally again.

Thanks for all the good wishes :smile:

Regards

Chris

[Guest angedoon]

Mum's visa granted today!!!!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Angie

 

Brillisnt News!!!! Very well done to you and a big hug for your Mum.

 

When is she planning to move out to Oz to join you?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest angedoon]

Hi Angie

 

Brillisnt News!!!! Very well done to you and a big hug for your Mum.

 

When is she planning to move out to Oz to join you?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

Two weeks time!!! Flight being booked today!:chatterbox: