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?

You will find Commissioners Decisions here;
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/docs/commdecs/
You will see the years from 1991 onwards. click on a year and a box appears in the top left corner. Scroll down to Decisions in series I and you will get all the 1991 Commisioners decisions for that year on Industrial Injurie Appeals.

I presume you have written to the Tribunal service for a full written statement of the reasons the Tribunal awarded 6%? You then have to find fault with the Tribunal written statement and the simplest is that the Tribunal have not explained properly how and why they arrived at their decision.

If you have GPAG membership then you have access to their helpline for Advisers. Ring the switch board on 0202 7837 7979. Or try their website www.cpag.org.uk.

whilst duncan's suggestion to check out reported decisions of the commisoners may prove useful, there are more than 70 to wade through over the last 15 years ..... and the dwp site doesn't help you in narrowing your search ...

although, the search on the cmmrs site @ http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/aspx is more helpful in that you can be more specific about what you're looking for (and it includes unreported decisions too) ...

... i wonder if anyone's got any pointers for mouster to help in narrowing his search for useful info, or suggestions as to possible approaches outside/in addition to cmmrs decisions?

Don't know if i'm missing something or not here? But i don't think Mouster is asking about appealing a Tribunal decision, merely a decision by an IIDB D/M? As i say i could be missing something!!

Here's my two pennorth anyway - when clients come to us about IIDB we always check whether they are a member of a union before we start to advise, unions are usually very experienced in dealing with IIDB issues.

If the client isn't a member of a union we check to see if they have medical evidence of their own to support what they believe - if their GP/Specialist has actually said to them that they think their problem is caused by their job then you need to get that in writing and use it as evidence in the appeal.

Otherwise just bang an appeal in and see what happens!!

Good luck

Thanks Bensup
You are correct, I am not asking to appeal a tribunal decision, we have not gotten that far yet.
I am asking for a strategy and info to appeal the initial assessment of 6% disablement following the medical examination and in particular the clients related symptoms which have come about as the result his computer work which developed following the on setting of tenosynevities, i.e. the linking of the cl upper limb disorder to his initially diagnosed tenosynevities.

I shall ask for the cl medical record to see if there are any supporting paper work there as well as requesting a supporting letter from his GP/specialist. He is not member of a trade union.

You seem to have an obstacle with A8 definition.."traumatic inflammation of the tendons of the hand or forearm, or the associated tendon sheaths" in establishing a case for taking upper arm into account by the sounds of it unless I am misunderstanding it. Not sure whether you would have to establish that upper arms etc problems were caused by accident rather than prescribed disease which would sound difficult given the cause of the condition. This would appear to be harsh and perhaps nonsensical given the link between the lower and upper arms and the likely cause of the problem.

If this is the case then establishing a medical link between the two may not help as there seems to be a legal bar because of therestricted definition under A8. Left then with the arguments about whether 6% is sufficient for the problems with the lower arms. Nothing to lose as he has no award anyway (unless he could get REA and risks ending up with a 0% assessment.

I would add a major health warning as I am adding this as suggestions rather than the expert input you requested! There may be a way of extending beyond the A8 restriction once that has been established that I am unaware of.

And don't forget a potential Reduced Earnings Allowance claim with the 6%. i.e. was the condtion contracted before October 1990? Or was s'he in a prescribed occupation that could have, on the balance of probabilities, attracted the condition prior to October 1990? Thank you.

i've come late to this having been off sick.

1. if your client appeals the 6% then it is open to the tribunal to take the 6% off the client, if the tribunal decides that the client's conditions doesn't satisfy the criteria.

2. yes 6% = nil benefit for the moment. BUT is there to be added to for the future if e.g. client then found to have something else work related and prescribed.

3. the neck/upper arm problems are not within the criteria for teno and I can't think of anything that is

4. you mention tingling etc in thefingers. if not teno, might be Carpal tunnel syndrome - but that is only precribed for miners using vibrating hand held tools so no money in it ....

5. if you client has not already consulted a solicitor re a PI claim for compensation s/he should do so immediately.

6. REA - this can only be claimed if onset was before REA was abolished in October 1990, as has been pointed out. If onset was that long ago and the condition continues, then frankly it can't be work related .... removal from the job should have eventaully seen a substantial reduction in sympomts. I get the feeling from your original post that this is a recent case....