Ms Catherine Kellaghan:

I would be dismayed to hear that because the Department pays a fee to GPs for filling in the reports and the medical certificates. When someone is ill or disabled and is attending a specialist, the normal procedure is that the specialist will report back to the person's GP on what is being done, the outcome and the ongoing treatment. It would be sufficient for us if the GP has a copy of the report. We do not expect people to expend money getting special reports filled out by consultants in order to qualify.