Do GPs write letter to help with housing?

[MsHopey]

I've got terrible mould in my living room. Originally my DS cot was against it until we moved the cot and saw how bad the mould was.
Been doing our best to keep him away from it, now he's a toddler he wants to eat the flaking paint .
I've contacted my local council (i am currently a tenant in a one bedroom flat) they've said I will need a GPs letter to prove it's affecting DS health before they seriously look at moving us.
DS is 11 months and has had several coughs and colds including a stomach infection that left him in hospital on a drip for 3 days when he was 4 months old.
But will do GPs write letters like this to the council? Is it common?

Dehumidifier should help

for goodness sake she has penetrating damp and black mould. She should go to environmental health/housing standards, not buy a (fairly useless in this case) dehumidifier.

The problem with a lot of places is cavity wall insulation. It does NOT suit all buildings.

My dad was a builder and site foreman and says the cavity is there for a reason.

www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/12929570.Cost_to_sort_out_damp_problems_in_city_homes_hits___670k/

I'm a GP and I wouldn't do this. I'm not an expert in mould and I can't conclusively state whether mould exists in your house - I only have your word for it - or whether mould is the cause of the health issues.

"Letters for the housing" are usually ignored by councils, many of which have explicit policies about not requesting medical letters because they don't take them into account.

It's non-NHS work, so your GP would likely charge you a fee. You would be wasting your money. Don't bother.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/rising-damp2-45081

I've found the phone number for the local health visitors, so I'll give them a call and see if they can help.
I've got a doctor's appointment for today, I explained to the receptionist it was a letter for my housing team and she gave me an appointment. So I'm kind of assuming they'll write me a letter otherwise I wouldn't have been given an appointment.
Environmental health will be my next step.
I do appreciate most suggestions and will take it on board. But yes, forking out money on put low income for dehumidifiers and heaters would pain me. Not even sure where we'd put them either as our tiny flat is pretty crammed as it is. But I know i need to do everything in my power to limit the mould.

economy 7 will be 7 hours, not 12. you need economy 10.

the place needs fixing ( the councils job) and heating in winter ( yours).

If the moulds affected Yr health yes your Dr can provide a letter to aid Housing transfer or application. But as pp said it'd be quicker to contact your councils housing safety dept. (If you want to stay, as better the devil you know). Scares dodgy Landlords into action as they can & will prosecute them for violating letting law. My Landlords view is that those laws are optional, so I know the council route results in (panicked) action.. A lot of Landlords in my area (some of whom have portfolio of over 500flats according to the very informative repair guys they use) are selling up after crackdown on fire safety by Council meant they had to fork out for fire doors & alarms. Their view was that as they mostly take benefit tenants other landlords won't take them so they can't complain/move. Nice.

"I've got a doctor's appointment for today, I explained to the receptionist it was a letter for my housing team and she gave me an appointment. So I'm kind of assuming they'll write me a letter otherwise I wouldn't have been given an appointment."

The receptionist probably doesn't know the details of what the GPs are able to write letters about. But even if your GP does agree to do it, they are likely to charge you, and it's likely not to make much impact on your housing application. You risk wasting your money.

If your housing team DO take the letter into account, then shame on them: expecting GPs to write 'letters for the housing' is a waste of NHS time and resources, and pointless, as GPs are not environmental health experts or occupational therapists, so can rarely offer useful input into housing problems.

I don't mean to sound critical of you, OP: you're in a crap situation and this is not your fault. But the system should not require medical professionals to opine on social problems.

What do you mean you're "not sure" whether you're on Economy 7?? You need to take some responsibility. If you're not on an economy 7 or 10 tariff then you will be paying through the nose to heat your flat. Unless you're incredibly rich, there's no way you can be so blase about what you're paying for electricity. Storage heaters can be brilliant - I had them in my last flat. As a PP said, you need to keep the input high. Properly heating your flat is the best thing you can do for the mould.

"Environmental health will be my next step."

This is an environmental health problem. Why turn to your GP before turning to Environmental Health?

Sorry haven't read the thread, but get your Health Visitor to write a letter - they often do and having visited your property and seen the problem they can make a more detailed case.

Leliana your comments are quite depressing. If her DC is presenting symptoms that leave them hospitalised due to mould surely prevention is the key here? What if the OP provided photographic evidence?

My DF was living in terrible housing and it took ages to get him rehoused but his GP helped me start the ball rolling by diagnosing him with a degenerative condition and writing to the council, which got social services and environmental health involved. I think she could see the bigger picture and that in the long run it would save my dads physical health (asthma) and her having several (often missed due to memory problems) appointments.

@sinisterbumfacedcat I'm trying to be helpful to the OP. I am just stating facts: as a GP, even if a patient has recurrent chest infections, I can't prove it's caused by mould in their home, and having never visited their home I can't even state as fact that there is mould there. Many councils have a policy of not taking GP letters into account. I would hate OP, who is struggling financially, to spend £20-30 on a letter which makes no difference. And as for your question about photos, I've never been to OP's house. How do I know the photo she shows me is her house?

I would just like to point out, to everyone on this thread, that next time you ring your GP and get told there's a 3 week wait for a routine appointment, it's in part due to the fact that GP appointments are taken up with this kind of non-medical problem. Clearly the child's infections are a medical problem in themselves, and no GP would begrudge seeing the child to assess and treat the infection, but it really shouldn't require a GP's input to get a council to meet its Environmental Health obligations.

I've never been to OP's house. How do I know the photo she shows me is her house?

Op takes video of the mould and walks out of the house still filming, showing the house number, then the block of flats, then the road sign. Presumably GPs have their patients address on file, and could be cross checked on google earth. That would take 2 minutes max, maybe a receptionist could do that as your so, understandably busy.

So many illnesses now days are a direct result of poor housing, poverty and deprivation. If a letter from a GP, who is often a persons first point of call can kick start the process of getting proper help surely that makes more sense than having them come back again and again until they are hospitalised and hit crisis point?

"I've never been to OP's house. How do I know the photo she shows me is her house?

Op takes video of the mould and walks out of the house still filming, showing the house number, then the block of flats, then the road sign. Presumably GPs have their patients address on file, and could be cross checked on google earth. That would take 2 minutes max, maybe a receptionist could do that as your so, understandably busy."

My receptionists are busy too, meeting the needs of people who are ill. Providing evidence to the council, which the council probably won't even use, is not an appropriate use of my time or that of my reception staff. Remember, GP surgeries get a set sum of money from the Government in order to offer all their core services. If I spend money on receptionist time to view videos, this is money I can't spend paying for something else which will directly benefit patient care. Perhaps, instead, OP could consult Environmental Health, whose job it is to manage this problem? You wouldn't visit a plumber and ask him to take your tooth out - why ask your GP to deal with this?!

"So many illnesses now days are a direct result of poor housing, poverty and deprivation." I completely agree.

"If a letter from a GP, who is often a persons first point of call can kick start the process of getting proper help surely that makes more sense than having them come back again and again until they are hospitalised and hit crisis point?" GPs are not currently funded by the Government to write these letters. We therefore have to charge patients for them. Given that many councils explicitly ignore GP letters about housing, I try to avoid doing them, as I don't want my patients to waste their money. I don't see why this is a controversial viewpoint. I agree that prevention is, as a rule, better than cure, but GPs just don't have the funding, time or resources to do free 'letters for the housing'. I agree that the Government needs to increase funding for Public Health, for General Practice, and for local councils so they can increase the quality of their housing stock. But that's not within my control as a GP.

"I've never been to OP's house. How do I know the photo she shows me is her house?"

Another person whose default setting is to disbelieve a tenant.

YY Sinister.

Sorry I haven't rtft but I'm a GP. our local council (deprived Borough with huge housing issues) has asked us not to send unsolicited letters. If they need medical info they will ask us for it formally, in writing. So we don't do any.

The fact that a tenant would actually have to film where she lives to prove she isnt lying? How the fuck have we got to this.

I don't know how many of you this will piss off.
I got a GPs letter today for £10.
I have previously said my housing manager has specifically asked for some kind of medical evidence. I don't have any clue what that would be if it wasn't a GPs letter.
I have emailed it over but obviously it being a Friday evening I'm not expecting a reply till Monday, maybe later.
I've also called my health visitor but she has Fridays off so she also won't be getting back to me till Monday.
If a £10 letter makes the council consider moving me or bumping me up the waiting list I've been on for 8 months, then it'll be £10 well spent.
I know the GP can only speculate regarding the mould, but my housing manager has seen the pictures and sent a member of the repairs team to do their own inspection of the mould, damp and leaking roof, so even though the GP doesn't have absolute proof about the mould (yes I also showed her the pictures) my catalogue of evidence will all make a strong case.

I generally don't because our local council have told us not to - that they do not consider them when assessing a claim. If a patient insists I will do one but it's not considered nhs work so there is a fee. I make it very clear that it is unlikely to help though.

So same as laptopdisaster basically.

I'm glad for you. Does it specifically say the mould is making your child ill? If so it may help but the GP is very naive as the council could sue her for libel as there's no way she can prove that. If it doesn't then I doubt it'll be of help. You have what is known in the trade as a 'cardie' GP who will do anything for patients and is naive about the consequences!