Hello Ikaruss, nice to see you on here again and interesting to hear your take on things.
It's "reassuring", in an absurd way, and frustrating to know that my experience and the experience described by Mr Tickle is representative of a broader trend. Without highjacking the thread, my own recent experience fits in with your observations. It's a bit of a long one!
I suffered a pneumothorax while in Spain in 2017. The doctors at the time said they thought it was caused by a session of acupuncture I'd had that morning with a physiotherapist. It was treated accordingly and I was discharged and made a full recovery within 48 hours. However, when I was discharged, my "record" said the diagnosis was a "spontaneous pneumothorax". I'd never heard of a pneumothorax before andI just thought "whatever it is, i'm glad it's fixed". So, after leaving the hospital, I never thought twice about the written diagnosis.
The following year when back in the UK, I mentioned in passing to my doctor what had happened, what the doctors in Spain had told me, and gave the diagnosis listed on my out-patient record. Later, having read up out of curiosity, I saw there was a difference between what the doctors had told me and the diagnosis. The doctors had described a "traumatic" pneumothorax, despite the written diagnosis saying "spontaneous". During my RAF application I began reading JSP 950 and saw that having suffered a "spontaneous" pneumothorax is a permanent bar to entry, whereas a "traumatic" one is not. I explained the situation to the Capita doctor at my medical and he told me that it shouldn't be a problem, but they would request my GP records. Consequently, I was curious what would be written on those records and requested access to them before they were passed to Capita. However, following a two month wait, I was advised by the admin staff at my GP surgery that giving me access to the records first would cause another lengthy delay. Foolishly, I told them to send them on and I would deal with it later. Following another wait, I was finally told by Capita that I was being made PMU given my diagnosis for a "spontaneous pneumothorax in 2018".
Subsequently, I contacted my GP and explained that the information held was incorrect. They were happy to write a letter to Capita stating this. So, I sent this to DOM, explaining the situation, explained that 6 years had passed and I had carried out activity above and beyond that required in military life, and provided several articles from medical journals showing the correlation between acupuncture and pneumothoraces. A month later, I was politely told that they only had "my word" that the doctors in Spain had told me it was traumatic and my appeal was rejected. Fair enough, I can see their point. So, on the advice of my GP, I went to Spain and spoke to the doctor who treated me at the time, who happens to be the head of Thoracic Surgery. He shrugged off the written diagnosis saying it was just an error, as diagnoses are chosen from drop down boxes on a computer, and provided a report confirming that the pneumothorax was a result of the acupuncture and, therefore, traumatic. Consequently, I sent this to DOM as a second appeal saying "I'm happy to say, here is the doctor's word that it was traumatic". Three days later I received a blunt letter from a civil medical practitioner at DOM (a GP whose specialisation is gynaecology) saying that my appeal was not being upheld because the diagnosis was "unlikely".
How can a GP, at a surgery in a small village in Lincolnshire, whose specialisation is gynaecology, disagree with the medical diagnosis of a lung condition made by the head of Thoracic Surgery in a major hospital in a capital city, and who actually treated me at the time? Not to mention that I was told that my first appeal was rejected because of the lack of evidence from this doctor!
With my application now closed, I was advised by my recruiter that I could appeal again to the OC DOM, if I had new evidence. I sent them a third letter of appeal explaining that it seemed odd that the professional opinion of a specialist was ignored because a GP who did not specialise in that area thought the diagnosis "unlikely". I also highlighted the number of medical journals describing the possibility; that it is recognised by the British Acupuncture Council; and that the Chartered Society for Physios even briefs its members on the dangers owing to previous litigation from similar incidents. Again, following another month wait, I received a curt letter from the OC DOM informing me that my appeal was not being upheld because they could not be "100% sure" that it had been a traumatic pneumothorax. This again, despite the doctor who treated me for it, saying so in writing.
Long story short (apologies for the long post!), an error in a written diagnosis, which was then corrected on my GP record and backed up by a letter of support from the doctor who treated me at the time was twice ignored because they could no longer guarantee it 100%. The irony being you can't guarantee 100% that anyone entering service will not go on to have a spontaneous pneumothorax. It's just crazy, and stupid, because if I had changed my GP record before applying, there would have been no problem. Nor would there be if I were to apply now.