Delegates told about the 'bane of the industry'
Getting clients to nag their GPs for their medical records is the most effective way to encourage quicker turnarounds, claimed Mark Jones, products and actuarial manager at Friends Provident.
Addressing delegates at this year's COVER Protection Forum, Jones said prompting people to submit their full medical records to insurers would cut out the need for providers to ask for a GP report, which can add enormous delay to the process.
"This is nothing new but is being applied to different levels by different providers and advisers and there may be room for each to improve a bit," he said.
"GP reports are the bane of the industry, they cost providers a fortune, doctors don't like completing them, they are of variable quality and they can add enormous delay to the process. I'm not an advocate of doing away with GP reports per se, but as providers we have to challenge ourselves to be sure that we are not asking for GP reports unnecessarily," Jones said.
He added that electronic underwriting systems embedded in the application process could also speed up the process and add more certainty.
