News and Updates
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Lung cancer, and in particular ALK-positive lung cancer, often progresses to the brain. About 26% of patients will have brain metastases (mets) at diagnosis and about another 20% will develop brain metastases within 2 years. Whilst brain mets can often be successfully treated, there is a legal requirement that, in most circumstances, the patient has to surrender their driving licence to the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA)
Many patients reported that they experienced difficulties in communicating with the DVLA and complained about the time taken to have their licences restored. In 2021, the Charity established a panel of members with experience of dealing with the DVLA to:
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develop channels of communication with the DVLA
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to raise aware of the DVLA about the effectiveness of modern targeted therapies to control brain mets
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to lobby for a reduction in the time that the licences of ALK patients are suspended
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to be a source of information and advice to patients.
The first members of the Panel were Paul Cooper, Duncan Edmonstone and Ian Cluett and they spent many hours exchanging very long and complex emails with the DVLA and in online meetings with them. Paul has now stepped down for a well-earned rest.
The panel has been very successful and has:
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Persuaded the DVLA to alter their guidance for certain treatments from a 2-year disqualification to just a 1-year disqualification. (This was mostly Paul’s own work before the DVLA panel was formed)
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Built an effective working relationship with both the DVLA Drivers Medical Group and the Honorary Medical Panel on driving and disorders of the nervous system.
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Persuaded the Honorary Medical Panel to recognise targeted therapy as a separate treatment from chemotherapy.
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Sought and received multiple clarifications in the Honorary Medical Panel’s guidance, especially in situations where treatments are unchanged, and patients are merely under observation.
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Arranged for a DVLA doctor to speak and ansqwer questions at one our annual conferences.
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Produced detailed advice and guidance for ALK+ patients on the process of returning to driving.
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Helped dozens of patients through the process of returning to driving.
The Charity’s DVLA panel is not affiliated with or endorsed by the DVLA. If you have questions, you can contact the Panel by:
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Sending a direct Facebook message to an individual member.
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Emailing hello@alkpositive.org.uk, who will put you in touch with a member.
Panel members can offer advice and guidance, but cannot deal with the DVLA on your behalf.
Latest News
It is still our view that a 1-year driving ban is too harsh, given how effective TKIs are at controlling brain metastases and how closely monitored ALK patients are. However, we are now at an impasse with the DVLA, where they are not prepared to reconsider the current guidelines without research and that is unlikely to be forthcoming in the short term. As such, we think it best to try a different approach. We have been encouraged by some of the DVLA doctors to try making applications before the end of the standard 1-year disqualification, and we will now be seeking some patients to go down this route with support from the Panel.
The recent backlog in processing medical driving licences has been mostly caused by the DVLA moving to a modern case management system. The good news is that this work is now completed, and the backlog has started to fall. We are hoping to see a return to a turnaround of about 8 weeks from submission to issuing a new licence within the next few months (bear in mind, this is always subject to your medical team responding quickly to queries from the DVLA).
The good news is that the DVLA is now set up to start processing more submissions online.
For those who just need to renew an existing short-term medical licence, this process is already live, and when informed by the DVLA that you need to renew your medical licence, you can start the process from here:
https://www.gov.uk/renew-medical-driving-licence
For those re-applying for a licence after serving a time off driving, either after surrendering your licence or having it revoked, this process is expected to be available online later in the year. We will keep you posted when this happens.
These new online processes will make use of gov.uk One Login – this is a new mechanism which will ultimately be used to access all government services online (and may be tied to digital ID if that ever becomes law). If you don’t already have a gov.uk One Login, we recommend signing up for one beforehand, as it can be a bit of a faff to go through. You can apply for a gov.uk One Login from here: https://signin.account.gov.uk/sign-in-or-create
This doesn’t allow government departments to share additional data on you, it is simply a single mechanism to sign in for all government services.
Longer term, the DVLA will be looking into mechanisms to allow medical information, including digital patient medical records, to be shared with them without requiring a Doctor/Consultant to be involved, but this may require primary legislation to implement.