How much detail to provide?

[chickadee]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how much medical history detail should be provided with a Medical Certificate? COMPLETE records of hospital treatments/surgery/blood transfusions/etc etc, etc, or is a summary of each enough?

[jeffanar]

Hi there, I'm a bit confused as to what you refer to as the 'medical certificate'. For the purposes of immigration, you need to take the medical forms from NZ immigration to an approved doctor and get them to fill in all the paperwork and do the appropriate tests (blood, chest xrays etc.) then this paperwork is what you send to NZ immigration

[chickadee]

Hi there, I'm a bit confused as to what you refer to as the 'medical certificate'. For the purposes of immigration, you need to take the medical forms from NZ immigration to an approved doctor and get them to fill in all the paperwork and do the appropriate tests (blood, chest xrays etc.) then this paperwork is what you send to NZ immigration

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Have taken all the medical forms to an approved doctor, have had all the approved tests done, and now just need to clarify how much supporting historical detail is required for the questions in Section B.

[KatieBen]

If you think your medical is going to be referred to a Medical Adviser (chronic illnesses mostly) then I would suggest collecting as much information to support your case as possible (i.e. summary of outpatient attendances, letter from consultant with diagnosis, likely disease progression, treatments currently on and likely to be on in future, prognosis for future treatment/relapse etc). This gives the MA something they can base their calculations on.

If it's something like "appendicectomy aged 15" then they don't require further information.

When in doubt, probably submitting more information is better than less, as if they have to ask for more then it will take that much longer for your application to be processed.

[chickadee]

If you think your medical is going to be referred to a Medical Adviser (chronic illnesses mostly) then I would suggest collecting as much information to support your case as possible.... When in doubt, probably submitting more information is better than less, as if they have to ask for more then it will take that much longer for your application to be processed.

Thanks KatieBen, that's the conclusion we'd come to as well even though the doc who is doing the exam doesn't seem to think it's neccessary. Our plan is to hit 'em with as much info as we can get hold of.

[sophiedb]

hi chickadee,

I got hold of all my recent medical records form the local hospital before going to the panel doctor. He picked a few to include with the form etc, but not as much as I thought he should, but he was of the opinion that the MA would ask for more if necessary. He also initialled all the papers he selected to include, and I'm rubbish at forging handwriting, so decided against just adding a load more in case it broke a rule or something...

Naturally, the MA *did* ask for more info, so tbh I'm miffed that I didn't push the point harder at the time - every time your file is sent to the MA it takes 6-8 weeks to get a reply, whether it's the first time or you're answering their questions. Irritating delay!

Depending on how serious your medical history is and whether you've had the "significant or abnormal findings" box ticked, I'd say get hold of as much as you can as soon as you can, and send it all in one go.

Best wishes!

[chickadee]

hi chickadee,

I got hold of all my recent medical records form the local hospital before going to the panel doctor. He picked a few to include with the form etc, but not as much as I thought he should, but he was of the opinion that the MA would ask for more if necessary. He also initialled all the papers he selected to include, and I'm rubbish at forging handwriting, so decided against just adding a load more in case it broke a rule or something...

Naturally, the MA *did* ask for more info, so tbh I'm miffed that I didn't push the point harder at the time - every time your file is sent to the MA it takes 6-8 weeks to get a reply, whether it's the first time or you're answering their questions. Irritating delay!

Depending on how serious your medical history is and whether you've had the "significant or abnormal findings" box ticked, I'd say get hold of as much as you can as soon as you can, and send it all in one go.

Best wishes!

Thanks sophiedb! That's exactly the sort of information I need to help "persuade" the doctor to include as much detail as possible, even if he doesn't think it's really necessary. If a delay of a couple of weeks while we wait for the records to arrive means we avoid even one MA delay then we'll be winning (time-wise anyway...)