Does anyone know if DVLA will accept me telling them that my husband has Alzheimer’s. He recently renewed his licence without ticking the box for Alzheimer’s as he refuses to accept that he has a problem. He is an experienced driver and actually still drives well - I let him drive as much as possible in order to retain his skill but want DVLA to know and then inform insurer. I have suggested to him he take voluntary assessment but as he thinks no problem ( and perhaps is scared of losing licence - he frequently says he loves driving. Any info/experiences would be welcome.
He is required by law to inform DVLA of his diagnosis, and runs the risk of having his licence revoked anyway if it comes to light that he didn't. Not informing the insurer is even more of a problem, as if anything does happen he will not be covered. It wasn't easy but I did manage to insist on both DVLA and the insurer being told within days of my husband's diagnosis.
Having sent off the forms to DVLA, our experience was that it took several months to work through the system. My husband had not been told he must not drive, and I (like you) thought he was still doing OK so didn't feel I had to tell DVLA otherwise (but would have done if need be). Eventually my husband was asked to attend for a driving assessment - this was done partly by video conference, and then he had to go to the centre to do some driving, as it happened in a locality he didn't know at all. He came out quite positive about the outcome, but on the pretext of needing the loo I went in to the offices, and was lucky enough to see the assessor who confirmed to me that she thought he was safe. I must say that everyone we encountered during this process was friendly and supportive.
Since the assessment, I have noticed that increasingly my husband does not remember the way to places, and he certainly can't do a new journey unassisted, but in terms of actually handling the car he is safe for now. Our GP told me that he's seen this before - that people with quite advanced dementia can still drive safely but need a navigator to remind them where they're going! Anyway, the assessment centre reports back to DVLA, who makes the decision about whether to issue a medical review licence. All this takes a while, especially at the moment. My husband is now on annual review. I don't let him to do anything other than short, local journeys by himself, and I think he is secretly relieved about that. You are absolutely right about your husband maintaining his skills, though - it was the first thing the OT said during the video assessment having asked my husband about his mileage.
Driving is incredibly important to my husband - he's had a unblemished career of more than fifty years - but I have made the point to him that the last thing he wants is to end up causing a hideous accident, and he agreed. Whether this will cut any ice at the point when he is told he can no longer drive is anyone's guess - we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.