Psychiatric disorder in your medical history? Get a note before your medical appointment!

[Rito 28]

If the beneficiary in your case has ever had a psychiatric disorder (bipolar, depression, etc), then you'll want to bring a note from your GP to your Knightsbridge medical appointment which states that the beneficiary is not a harm to him/herself or others.

Unfortunately, if you just ask your GP for such a note, you might not get it. We did this and were told by the GP that without context, a request, and more information, he didn't want to give us such a note. This led to a delay for us, because the Knightsbridge doctors sent a form letter to the GP asking for the information after the beneficiary's appointment.

To avoid this, get the note from your GP ahead of time. Below is the form letter that the Knightsbridge doctors fax. If your GP is groovy with it, showing them the form letter before your appointment could mean convincing them to give you a note and thus avoiding a delay.

Dear Doctor,

Re: [bENEFICIARY NAME],

I would be grateful if you could examine the above named in order to provide a psychiatric report. This is needed for the purpose of the US immigration authorities. I would be grateful if you could comment on the possibility of future self harm or harmful behaviour to others or their property, and whether the above named is likely to require future psychiatric care.

He/she has a history of:

[NAME OF DISORDER since YEAR DISORDER DIAGNOSED]

I would be grateful if you could send the report directly to myself at the above address and no doubt the applicant will wish to receive a copy.

Please note that the applicant will be responsible for your professional fees in this matter.

[Ricky+Vanessa 43]

When they say "report" I would assume this means more than a simple letter or am I missing something?

I'm asking because the psychiatric reports I deal with and request in my line of work are quite in depth documents.

[Rito 28]

When they say "report" I would assume this means more than a simple letter or am I missing something?

I'm asking because the psychiatric reports I deal with and request in my line of work are quite in depth documents.

We won't know until the beneficiary's GP responds (or unless someone else has been through this). We're really hoping it will be a simple "it's not a problem" fax back rather than a "we haven't seen the patient for this disorder for years, so a full psychiatric evaluation is needed."

[celticstar 2]

Thanks for that info!

I never even thought that having suffered depression in the past might be a problem, at least now I can be prepared for it!

So all we need to do is to copy that letter, fill in the blanks and print it out when we go to our doctor?

[Rito 28]

So all we need to do is to copy that letter, fill in the blanks and print it out when we go to our doctor?

If the beneficiary's GP is willing to write a basic letter saying that he/she has no reason to think the beneficiary will be a harm to him/herself, others, or property, then yes this seems to be enough in most cases. You'll see in this thread on self-harm and depression that some people's GP's were happy to just write a note, which was then faxed to and accepted by Knightsbridge. If you can convince your GP or psychiatrist to do this, you should be in the clear. In our case, my fiance hasn't seen a doctor about bipolar for years. So here's what we're forced to do:

1. The GP has applied to central services for my fiance's basic records/notes (since he is a new patient)

2. When the records arrive next week ( ), the he will have to have an appointment for psychological evaluation. We're told this fee is "anything up to £50."

I'm not happy. This will mean a delay in when he can move to the US. At least we were smart enough not to buy tickets ahead of time.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Rito

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

50 quid sounds like a bargain -- others have reported fees of over 300 pounds for a psychiatric evaluation. You guys will get this sorted pretty quickly and he'll be here sooner than you know it.

[thatbritishlass 2]

I have a question in this vein actually as I was completing my medical questionnaire today.

I had an eating disorder when I was 15 and was hospitalised for 3 months. That was over 10 years ago now and I'm right as rain.

Would you count this as a psychiatric disorder? I'm not looking for a medical opinion here, just bog standard 2nd opinion

My medical is on Wednesday and I stand minimal chance of getting to the GP before then given Easter coming up, so I may just have to suck it up and wait for them to fax the letter if it causes problems. Fortunately we haven't even got P4 yet so we have time if I come up against problems.