Gwilym

I was given a 30 page booklet by the Hospital a day or two after my admittance specifically aimed at patients who have had a SAH and their families. It gives all sorts of explanations and advice about your SAH, why, what, what happens next, treatments, aftercare etc. etc. etc. and a section in there specifically relates to driving and notifying the DVLA. Gwilym PS: Further to my previous post, if the DVLA give you verbal permission to re-commence driving, it's a good idea to get the name of the person telling you and for you to write to the DVLA confirming that conversation. I sent mine Recorded Delivery to be absolutely sure.

You have a legal duty to inform the DVLA if you have a SAH. You do this by completing and sending them their Form B1 - available from their web site. You do NOT have to surrender your licence. It is very important that you don't. In completing Form B1 you give an undertaking to follow all medical advice. Initially, that advice is, of course, don't drive. You then have to wait until your Consultant/Doctor says that in their opinion your are fit to drive. The DVLA's internal rule of thumb is don't drive for 6 months after your SAH but this is just that, a rule of thumb. If you telephone the Driver Medical Team at the DVLA and tell them that your Consultant/Doctor says that your are fit to drive they will give you the verbal OK to recommence no matter what time period has passed. When you submit your Form B1 the DVLA will write to your Consultant/Doctor asking for a report on your medical condition. When this is received by the DVLA they pass this to their Medical Panel who assess it and give a view on your fitness to drive. Note that in the meantime, if your Consultant/Doctor has told your you are fit to recommence driving, you have told the DVLA this and they have given you the verbal OK to drive then you are OK to drive. If their Medical Panel then decide your are NOT fit to drive when they get round to you then you are then told to stop!! Crackers yes but that's the system. The problem is that their Medical Panel only meet on a schedule decided by them. There is quite a back log. Three weeks ago they were looking at Medical Reports submitted in the middle of December. In my case, the timings were: SAH - 19 October 2012. Coiling - 20 October 2012. Form B1 submitted 30 October 2012 Consultant said I was fit to drive again - 13 December 2012. DVLA agreed, verbally, that I could drive again based on the above - 13 December 2013. Re-commenced driving - 13 December 2013. Consultant (finally) submitted Medical Report to DVLA - 27 January 2013. Written confirmation that the DVLA Medical Panel agreed that I could drive again received - 2 May 2013. Everybody's different and you should follow your medical advice. In my case, I felt fine by mid December, my Consultant agreed, the DVLA said OK and I've been driving ever since. Not everyone is that lucky. Gwilym

Rules are different for HGV etc. licences but for a normal car licence, you do not have to surrender when you have a SAH. The requirement only is that you inform the DVLA. This you do on their form B1. If you study the form and the information on the connected web site, nowhere does it say you shouldn't drive. However, Form B1 includes a declaration for you to sign that says you will follow all medical advice. Inevitably, that advice is not to drive. However, once your Consultant says their is no medical reason for you not to commence driving then the DVLA will confirm that that is what you can do. In my case, they did this over the phone when I told them that my Consultant had confirmed that he had no objection. Nothing in writing from the DVLA at that point but I did confirm the conversation to them in writing so a record existed. My Consultant took nearly three months and three reminders from the DVLA before sending the written medical report and then only after I had raised the delay as an informal complaint with the Hospital PALS people. Once the report is received by the DVLA (they will write to you and confirm they have received it) it is passed to their medical people for consideration and they undertake to write to you within 8 weeks. In my case, that 8 week period expires at the end of March. Bottom line is don't surrender your licence and once your Consultant says you're fit to drive, ring the DVLA and tell them. Gwilym

I've just been through this exactly. The DVLA Driver Medical Group wrote to my Consultant three times and each time he failed to respond despite telling me at my follow up consultation that he was happy, from a medical point of view, for me to start driving again. I'm afraid Consultants don't put any particular importance on completing these reports and they get put on a pile to do 'sometime'. After getting no joy with his secretary, I contacted the Hospital's PALS Dept and made the failure to respond to the DVLA an informal complaint. My Consultant's report was faxed and posted to the DVLA 3 days later!! The DVLA will confirm receipt of the report with you and then pass it to their medical advisers. From that point, they undertake to respond to you within 8 weeks. Gwilym