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I had to stop driving after I informed the DVLA I had been diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea back in January. I was subsequently informed I faced an 82 week wait for a sleep clinic appointment, this was before the whole COVID-19 which of course would extend that wait. In the end fearing for my health which my wife informed me was getting worse night by night we privately sourced an APAP machine which has been a revelation. Now I face the task of proving I’m safe to drive, my doctor has indicated there is nothing he can do, any advice on how anyone else has dealt with this?
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Good Morning,
Thank you for your post.
Can I kindly ask which CPAP machine you have? Then I can tell you how to access your CPAP therapy data from your machine to see how well your CPAP therapy is going.
I would suggest talking to the DVLA to ask what proof they require.
You can also talk to the Sleep Apnoea trust to see what they can advise - http://www.sleep-apnoea-trust.org/co...-apnoea-trust/
Kelly -
It’s a Resmed Airsense 10 autoset. Many thanks.Comment
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Good Morning,
The ResMed Airsense10 CPAP machine has Bluetooth connectivity. Have you created an MyAir Account - https://myair.resmed.eu/default.aspx?redirect=1
If not, then please create one and then link your machine to your account. This should give you access to then view your CPAP data.
If you ask the DVLA what they require, then you should be able to print off or pdf a report to give them the data they may need.
Please let me know how you get on.
KellyComment
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Thank you for your help :-)Comment
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Hi
You are more than welcome.
KellyComment
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You should be able to send in your data card to the clinic and the DVLA will ask them if you are compliant.Originally posted by Mrsoftytop View Post
DVLA will not (normally accept your word for it, but things are not normal just now) so go through your clinic.
When you reapply, put down the clinic and the doctor treating you.
The DVLA will contact them. As long as you are compliant you should have no problems.
You can try phoning the DVLA, but have all the details to hand, you will need to contact your clinic so they can look at your data card.
You may have to send your card into the clinic. Before you contact the DVLA, so contact the clinic first, some clinics might download it remotely.
Hope this helps.S2S - Sleep2SnoreComment
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Just an update, I got my license back. In the end I had to go to a private health centre where the doctor used the resmed sleep information and drafted a letter for the DVLA. A couple of weeks after that I was reissued my driving license. Cost £200 for the consultation, it’s worth it just to get back to normal.Comment
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Hi, I'm going through the exact same issue now - mrsoftytop, any chance you can let me know which clinic you utilised so I can do the same?Comment
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If I were you, I’d contact you local NHS clinic first. You can search here. I bought my machine privately too. My local NHS sleep clinic didn’t need the card and said they’d happily confirm compliance with DVLA if I sent them a report from my machine.
In my case, as I’m currently using DevilBiss, so I generate the report on the Intellipap site.
Philips users can generate a report with DreamMapper and I think ResMed users can with MyAir.
Another option is to take the report to your GP, and try your luck with them, but they may not feel comfortable without a sleep clinics letter.
Otherwise, just google “private sleep clinic uk” and you’d find plenty of clinics. I’ve not seen any clinics list prices for DVLA letters, so you’d have to contact one and agree things. Still, I would seriously try my luck with NHS first, as they’re usually faster if you already have a machine/diagnosis and just want to confirm compliance.
Also remember DVLA have huge backlog thanks to COVID-19. Any paper application will take a while.Comment
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Just starting process of reapplying for driving licence as well. Part of the paperwork I had from dvsa included a form for sleep clinic dr to fill in. The criteria is that I use CPAP regularly, see clinic for yearly assessment and that I no longer have the sleep issues during the day. When I gave the form to the dr I also included the epworth score showing the huge difference from before CPAP. I’ve got teamed airsense 10 so sleep clinic can access all info but as other have said you may need to hand them your so card if they don’t have access to your machine. Hoping my form done by Monday so I can send it in with my application to dvsa. Did see in news recently that ther may be up to a 5 month delay in processing licence renewals so just hoping it is not the same for medical applications. Good luck with yours
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I think it might be. The delays are due to a number of DVLA staff working remotely, so paper applications are backlogged. I’m still waiting for my license
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