As I know little about Industrial Injuries (also not much in-depth info in CPAG) I am going to rely on the help from the forum and apologies for it being lengthy!
A client recently has a medical examination following claim for IIDB under industrial disease A8 Tenosynovitis (inflammation of tendons in the forearm etc). He receives his decision letter last week with assessment of 6% disablement for life, which of course means no benefit for him. Following cl development of Tenosynovitis as the result of computer work, cl also develops upper limb disorder sometimes later (which I understand is a generic name similar to RSI for various upper limb problems e.g. chronic pain/RSI/RSD/CRPC etc) which I also understand are symptoms of conditions related to prolong work on the computers. Cl was made redundant as a computer programmer.
Cl suffers with pain/numbness in both hands/forearms and also pain and spasm in neck and shoulders. The decision letter accepts cl forearm pain as industrial disease however does not accept the upper limb disorder as an industrial disease nor does it make any reference to the pain and numbness in cl hands.
I have requested a copy of the medical report with the view to appeal the decision. The client told me that he was under heavy medication because of the pain and in fact whilst he was seen by the medical examinator (but before the actual physical test) he's asked for a glass of water to take additional pain killers there and then so to ease the pain in his hands/forearms/neck/shoulders. Therefore, at the time of the actual physical examination he might have had less pain due to the effect of pain killers and anti-inflammatory medication.
I wanted to appeal the case but have very little background in this area… so can you please point me to any relevant material/decisions or any possible approach etc. Is there anything in relationship of computer work/ upper limb disorder/RSI and Tenosynovitis for IIDB? The client is on DLA mid rate care and IB. Could the 6% disablement assessment have a negative impact on clients DLA award? Is there any mileage in the effect of the painkillers masking the effect of the disablement during the examination and that the examining doctor did not take this into account? Once I get the medical report what do I need to pick up on? Is there any organisation that could provide specialist help on this area, which might serve the client better than myself?
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