Catch 22

[LazySod]

Get this.....

For the last eight years i have suffered from heart disease, i've had two heart attacks and spent many a long night wide awake in hospital.

For the past five years i've been on Incapacity Benefit, i've always been open and honest with the DWP and always attended any interview or medical when requested.

Two years ago my missus became similarly ill and underwent a double heart bypass last August (3 days after our 25th anniversary) and is expected to recover fully within the year.
She too is on Incapacity Benefit.

On with my story....

I was called in for a medical mid july, the "doctor" spent the majority of her time concentrating on my stiff neck (not part of my claim) suspecting arthritis and very little time checking my heart.

Late August I become increasingly fatigued and wind up in hospital with Bradycardia (slow heart rate), I spend two night strapped to a monitor and get discharged after having my Betablockers stopped.

I get home to find a letter stating im no longer entitled to Incapacity Benefit.:aargh4:

I phone Jobcentre Plus and am advised that an appeal could take 4 months so better put in a new claim with the new complaint, which i do.

Heart throws another wobbler, go see my doc, now I have 'Cardic Arrhythmias with multiple ectopics', back on the Betablockers and get a sicknote for a month.

Had no money for a week now, phone Jobcentre Plus, 'Claim Income Support and Council Tax benefit', which i do.

Off to see the heart specialist at the hospital, have ECG, 'Bradycardia with multiple Ectopics', "Looks like you need a pacemaker, More tests"

That's 2 weeks with no money.

Phone Jobcentre Plus to check on IB claim, "It's gone to the dicision makers"

Week 3 with no money "Decision makers haven't made a decision".

Check on Income Support claim " We can't process that claim til we have a result of your IB claim".

Week 4 with no money " Decision makers decided not to make a decision until they have sent you for a medical".

Don't feel well, off to docs, bigger Betablockers and a sicknote for another 3 months.:tongue-ti

Off to the hospital for more tests, hearts scan says no further damage in the last 5 years, could not complete the treadmill test (breathlessness), "You need another Angiogram to check your stents ain't blocking", eight week waiting list.

Phone Jobcentre Plus and am advised......(and here's the Catch 22 bit).......

• Can't claim Jobseekers allowance cos' i've got a sicknote.
• Can't claim IB cos' i've been deemed fit for work.
• Can't claim income Support cos' there's an ongoing claim for IB.
• Can't claim Council Tax benefit cos' my IS claim is on hold.

Apparently i should have appealed the original decision and would have got 90% of the Income Support, but .... the 30 day appeal limit was up 3 days ago, so tuff.:aargh4:

....which leaves me starting week 5 with no money, having missed two mortgage payments, and yet another trip to the hospital to look forward too.

Shout down phone at Jobcentre Plus, get extension on appeal limit, am advised that appeal could take 4 months, "There's a backlog".

Still waiting for the letter from the decision makers asking me to go for a medical.

Appeal posted tonight, i'll keep you updated.

All through this i've been advised by both my doc and my heart specialist to "avoid stress" as this will make the problem worse.

So the moral of this story is... You can't afford to get ill.





Rant over, ignore me, i'm just venting frustration.

 

[Martyn]

So the moral of this story is... You can't afford to get ill.

Dont want to sound unsympathetic, but it could be worse. If you were in the states, it wouldn't just be your mortgage payments you couldn't afford, it'd be your medical treatment as well.

In many countries in the world, if you dont work, you dont get anything ...at all ...period.

For some years now the government has been cutting back on IB across the board, partly in response to criticism that it has been doling it out inappropriately and partly because medical advances have meant that illnesses that would of previously incapacitated you, can now be managed with much greater success. One of my relatives was on IB from the age of 48 with angina till he reached retirement, with his level of incapacity, there is no way he'd get it now. Heart disease can be managed very successfully and in most cases, doesn't prevent someone from working. Ranulph Fiennes ran seven marathons in seven continents in seven days, just 2 and a half months after bypass surgery, aged 59. The day after he got home, he returned to work. Obviously he is by far the exception, but the medical world knows well that heart disease can be managed to the extent that the sufferer can, in many cases, experience a near normal, working life.

The other side to the coin is that IB costs the working man approximately £16 billion each year - that's about £450 a year per tax payer. While it is not the fault of the sick person that they are sick, it's not the fault of the tax payer either. Any compassionate society would of course, support their sick and those who are truly unable to work, but equally, those who can work, should work. It's a tough call. But the government and the NHS should be doing absolutely everything they can, to get as many people as possible, safely off IB and into work. I completely support all their efforts in that regard.

But regardless of that issue, you absolutely should not be left hanging without money - that's disgraceful.

I wish you every success with your appeal, but I have greater hope that your heart disease can be stabilised and managed to the extent that you can return to work.

 

[SimonM]

Tony, I feel for you.

If there is anything we can do just ask!

Simon

PS - A Doctors note does NOT get you out of sleeping over at Middlewood! See you there!

 

[Tony]

Harsh, I hope they get it sorted for you soon mate

 

[Aaron]

It really gets me when I read things like this - If I was in the same position I would feel like smashing my head against a wall, not just from the health condition and money worries but from the sheer frustration of dealing with such an inefficient bureacratic regime. It strikes me that the welfare and health systems are now a long way removed from the 'cradle to grave care' promised by the post war government who set up the welfare state. Having paid National Insurance all your working life it is right to expect that the system supports you in the way it should, when you need it. I hope things work out for you mate.

 

[Kepis]

Might i suggest contacting your MP about this, we went through a similar scenario a while back with a family member and like you were getting nowhere fast and going backwards even faster, so we contacted our MP, got a meeting with him, presented the facts with all the backup paperwork we had and he got on it, within 2 weeks everything was sorted, MP's do have their uses.

 

[Tengu]

That is what I would suggest too.

(Says she whos applying for DLA, but has been turned down, Im re applying with my psychologist now)

 

[firecrest]

sprry to hear about this
Bring someone along with you to the medicals, I know someone who had points knocked off because he arrived all by himself. woopido!

 

[Aragorn]

Rant over, ignore me, i'm just venting frustration.

that's what were here for mate.

hope you get this sorted soon, one of my biggest gripes is seeing people why genuinly deserve help, having to fight tooth and nail to get it

 

[xylaria]

The problem with the both IB and DLA is that the system favours those that are best at lying. Scumbags that trip on paving slab can some how get as much as they like, and honest people that aren't from a culture that claims everything get bob all.

Good luck with your DLA claim Tengu. Plaese keep appealing, and if you get interviewed by one of thier doctors it might help to wear your jumper inside out and back to front , aviod any eye contact at all, and insist on counting everyone of his pens, books, celling tiles ect

 

[spiritofold]

I've seen it so many times where i live, the people who blag their IB or DLA benefits and really take the **** outta the system, then you hear stories of people who genuinely need the money to survive.

It does my head in to think of the tax money i pay going on people who dont need it!

Dunno what to say to help you Tony, have you tried for a crisis loan? It maybe worth it even for a small amount of money.

Actually, i do have an idea!

Have you tried making and selling things from home? I dunno what your good at but it might be a way of getting some food on the table etc?

Good luck with it all

Andy >>>>>------------------------------<>

 

[Bimble]

If I were you I'd work the system....

First off, phone the press. (They do have some uses). Don't pi*s about here, be specific, name names, when you talk to people get there name and their bosses name, and use them in any interview, along with any statements they make (tape recordings are very good for tripping them up). This way the press phone them up and rather than answer questions which show up their incompetence, you'll get to the top of the list quick.

Try not to let yourself become depressed (or angry) this is just bureaucracy and is far from perfect. We live in a country that has social responsibility at its core. Assuming that you are genuine, you are entitled to your benefit under law. Stopping benefit wrongly is a case for the civil courts, despite the machinations of politicians, I would certainly enquire.

Don’t ever feel guilty for claiming any benefit, we/I pay a lot of tax as an insurance (National Insurance) so if I, or any of my friends or family fall on hard times (Which can happen to any of us through no fault of our own) they can have some dignity.

Don’t get down as this never helps. It may be hard but in your medical condition it’s better than the alternative.....

 

[spamel]

I feel your frustration, although mine was on a lesser level than yourself and I didn't have a disability to worry about neither. Six weeks on the Ol' King Cole earlier on this year, and it was my safety net between jobs as it should be. I wasn't claiming for Disability as you are, but I found a job quite quickly, thank the maker! I couldn't survive on what I was getting paid, we couldn't afford the rent on everything I got, let alone utility bills, food, clothing for the kids, etc. Nobody tells you what you are entitled to, you see.

I started working for The Company which will remain nameless for my own sake as much as theirs, and the first few weeks were supposed to be on the job training, unpaid! I told the Job Centre this, but as far as they were concerned I was in employment. Money stopped. After three weeks, I still hadn't been assessed by The Company, so still wasn't earning. Fourth week, I had been assessed and was now waiting on van and equipment to carry on with normal working procedures, bearing in mind I get paid two weeks in arrears. Basically, I struggled for six weeks without any support form Job Centre and it tried my patience no end. At the end of my training period I got a 250 quid payout from The Company, but of course I had to wait two weeks. It was touch and go that I would quit the job as unworkable and go back on the benefits. They really didn't make getting employment an appealing process at all, no wonder so many make the dole a career if that is the sort of hardship you have to go through to gain employment.

I hope you get sorted out ASAP, I'd certainly heed the advice of getting every Tom, Dick and harry involved to try and give the JC a boot up the rear, maybe they just need a bit of "encouragement"!

 

[LazySod]

Thanks for the support and suggestion guys, im a bit embarassed this morning after typing all that last night in a drunken moment of self pity.

Think the letter i got my doctor to write for the appeal might do the trick, he let me read it and it was great reading.

 

[spamel]

A problem shared is a problem halved as they say. No need to feel embarressed, I find that with the wealth of knowledge on this forum that there will always be somebody who can give you a definitive answer on almost anything. Hope your head feels OK!

 

[Tengu]

Doctors can be very helpful, as long as they think you are genuine.

mines just wrote me a very flattering report (This is for residential training)

Good luck with your DLA claim Tengu. Plaese keep appealing, and if you get interviewed by one of thier doctors it might help to wear your jumper inside out and back to front , aviod any eye contact at all, and insist on counting everyone of his pens, books, celling tiles ect

Oh, I cant do that, thats normal for me

 

[spiritofold]

Bushcraft:

Takes away the stress of life for me when i go deep into the woods and play at being a caveman I dont worry about bills or my work, nobody trying to sell me tat. Just me
and whoever else comes along to chill out and do something different!

Being with the trees is always calming

Andy >>>>>-------------------------------<>

 

[sam_acw]

A friend had this with his mother, she was bedridden with a degenerative condition and they had to get a doctor's report every few months in case she'd gotten better! Even worse the state basically took over her house and sold it to pay for her care, if she'd had nothing she wouldn't have been charged.

 

[LazySod]

Latest update.....

Appeal recieved, sent to decision makers.

Now week 5 with no funds.

Repossesion proceedings start on the 20th. (not to worry, had two offers of the money as a last resort from friends).


The thing is..... these decision makes ..... acknowlaged recieipt of the appeal on monday ...... but won't be looking at it til next monday ....... WHY?

 

[Barn Owl]

Pathetic isn't it,

My father in law had to appeal 3 times after a quadruple bypass then amputation,having worked since he left school.

A patient in his amputee ward had no legs, said he was on his seventh appeal to them after his last op'.

It doesn't pay to be honest at these things,that's just a certain fact.