A Bureaucracy  Marathon… Part Two of  Our “Fit to Drive” Medical Certificate Challenge!

I spent literally all day on the phone on Monday trying to sort out my husband’s medical driving certificate , but I think I have reasonably good news.

The dreaded driving licence medical certificate assessment for my husband has been consuming us over the past 2 weeks.

For a quick background story, here’s how I got to Monday’s bureaucracy  marathon:

My husband’s recent diagnosis of Alzheimers disease has ripped our world apart. To deny that would be the wrong path to take if we want to arrive at a place of acceptance and coping.

So far, so good, or we thought we were doing well until we had to face the one thing we both knew we wanted to ignore.

My husband is 81, and in Australia, the government requires all drivers over the age of 75 to have a basic GP medical check and be issued with a “fit to drive” medical certificate from their GP. This can be unconditional or conditional, depending on the medical diagnosis.

Up until this year, all has been straightforward.  However Alzheimers disease changes everything.

One of the key things with managing Alzheimers is not to take independence away from the person unnecessarily or prematurely.

Driving is one of those key activities. My husband is still a good and competent driver as it’s part of his long-term memory. We recognise he may need some conditions, and we recognise he may need to cease driving in the next few years. But not just yet.

So when my husband’s current GP refused to even complete a medical certificate this week, we were both devastated and really unsure of what to do.

For the full story of how we got into this situation, this link will take you to my previous blog post, where you will also discover why getting this certificate is just so important to both of us: The Background Story.

Let The Marathon Begin

First, the good news. You may remember we were struck down with a severe case of COVID about 6 weeks ago. If you would like to read more about that terrifying saga, here’s the link to our very scary story:  How On Earth Did We Become A COVID Couple !

So back to the good news……after 20 days of testing positive, our COVID test is now thankfully negative with just a few grumbling symptoms, but nothing serious.

The other good news is in the process of my bureaucracy marathon, I found out some key information.

1. The referral from the General Physician Specialist to the Neurologist does confirm the Alzheimers diagnosis, but it needs to be fully assessed to be graded. The neurologist will do that. I also discovered it’s the grading that affects things like driving approval, etc.

2. Alzheimers is a reportable medical condition in Australia, and many doctors  have a policy of not approving anyone as “fit to drive” with this diagnosis. My husband’s current GP has this policy, so that’s why we hit a brick wall immediately.

It’s important to note that this is not the view of the Alzheimers Associations or the Department of Transport.

A full assessment is necessary, reporting the disease diagnosis necessary, and having a conditional medical certificate is necessary.

Eventually, we managed to convince the GP to reluctantly complete a medical certificate with conditions he could only drive a 5km radius from home, and it was only valid until his neurologist review in September.

Ok, that means he can’t drive to his curent GP as it’s too far out of the approved zone. He can’t drive to my hospital or take me to appointments, and he can only just get to the local shops and pharmacy.

We can’t go on local car pinics, and the car definitely can’t be my legs as it has been for the past 10 years.

We have no problems with conditions, but we think at least a 10km radius from home, plus approval to drive to my hospital and my GP in non peak hours would make the world of difference.

On careful inspection of the medical certificate, the GP hasn’t stated his disease diagnosis, hasn’t completed the mandatory eye test, or other basic medical checks, so the document is pretty useless anyway.

A change of approach was definitely needed, so here’s the current state of events.

We Have a Plan!!

1. I’ve transferred my husband back to our family GP. He changed his GP two years ago to be closer to home and save petrol. That was a mistake in hindsight.

2. I’ve organised for all specialists and his current GP info to be transferred to our family GP. Everyone was so helpful and so understanding of our situation.

3. He’s booked in for a full cognitive/health test with the nurse and GP on the 3rd of June, and we’ll take it from there regarding the driving medical certificate. Very likely, we’ll get an “appropriate” interim one until he sees the neurologist in Sept for the full Alzheimers assessment. He will be given a level/grading of Alzheimers from this. The GP can then re assess the situation and approve or decline a drivers medical certificate based on the specialists’ information.

4. Our family GP is well outside of a 5km radius, which he is currently allowed to drive, so we have arranged for my carers to take us to the GP appointment next week. They have agreed that my husband can be transported by them under my care package so long as he signs an indemnity. Thank goodness for helpful people willing to think outside the box.

Overall it couldn’t have gone better and although I was absolutely exhausted from admin and talking to people (there’s always so much paperwork with everything isn’t there), I am very relieved to have everything organised.

My husband is also happy with the path we are taking, which is the biggest achievement as it is hard to get Alzheimers patients to accept loss and change or keep up with these issues.

I’m so proud of him as he is determined to fight this as much as possible. We are doing as much as we can every day to exercise his brain. His version causes loss of speech, and we can see  that happening already.

We will be able to get so much help with all of this once his Level 2 Aged Care package (Australian Government funded support package for people over 65 with chronic disease/disability) is allocated, including speech pathology. Hopefully, it’s not too long to go.

Thank you to everyone who has sent messages of your love and support. It means so much to both of us.

In the meantime, I still have a little more paperwork to complete and medical records gathering to be ready for our upcoming GP appointment. All while dealing with further compressed nerves in my lumbar spine, causing complete paralysis in my right leg for hours at a time.

I never realised how much physical movement was involved in printing and scanning documents until I couldn’t move. My body just screams at me! I just don’t understand why someone in government departments and medical practices can’t come up with ways to make administrative requests disability friendly.

Stay tuned to find out how our GP appointment goes on the 3rd of June. I’ll definitely keep you posted.

Take care

Sam xx

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