The British Medical Association has warned that hundreds of thousands of motorists could face a ticking timebomb of road safety concern due to a backlog of ‘fit to drive’ requests to their GP.
Recent figures suggest that there are currently up to 200,000 drivers waiting for medical approval to renew their driving licence, but current queues for a GP are forcing some to seek independent verification elsewhere, and those practitioners don’t have access to a full medical background.
The BMA has now sent a letter to Baroness Vere, Secretary of State at the Department of Transport to warn that without having a check on the full patient history, that medical conditions might be ignored.
“Across the country, thousands of drivers require medical 'fit to drive' sign-off in order to obtain or renew their drivers' licence,” Dr Peter Holden, BMA professional fees committee chair said.
“We know that some of these drivers, aware of the current DVLA backlog, are bypassing the queue at their own GP practice and going to third party registered medical practitioners.
“The issue here is that only an individual's GP practices has access to a patient's full medical record, so only they know whether or not that person is fit to drive.
“By seeking 'sign-off' from an independent practitioner, who only has the patient's word to go by, there's a risk that medical conditions may be, either intentionally or unintendedly, understated and this has already had a grave impact on road safety.”
A statement from the DVLA said that they have employed additional staff and put on more shifts to tackle the huge backlog and that all drivers must meet ‘medical standards for fitness at all times.’