What is Deep Vein Thrombosis DVT
Deep-vein thrombosis, also known as deep-venous thrombosis or DVT, is the formation of a blood clot ("thrombus") in a deep vein. It commonly affects the leg veins, such as the femo...
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Between A Rock & A Hard Place
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As I think I have previously mentioned, I had to attend a medical assessment on 28th October. This was at the request of the DWP (Department of Work & Pensions) and was intended to justify my continuing ESA (Employment & Support Allowance - the new name for Incapacity Benefit) payments.
On the whole I thought that the assessment went ok and whilst the doctor mysteriously didn't want to examine my DVT leg she did seem sympathetic to my situation to the point of reminding me to ensure that I continued to get medical certificates from my own doctor so that I had no interruption of benefit payments. I saw my own doctor two days later and also took the opportunity to voice concerns about my ongoing health and especially that I have been alarmed to find that I seem to become extremely tired after over exerting myself. He said that I must appreciate that I was 'very seriously ill' last winter (with my PEs and DVT) and that I must accept that it will take 'quite some time' before my body regains its full strength. On top of that the second instance of DVT isn't helping matters. Anyhow, he said that I should avoid work until the end of January 2010 and issued me with a suitable dated medical certificate which I mailed to DWP the same day. He also said that in terms of future employment I cannot do anything that requires me to be on my feet all day, nor anything involving heavy physical work and ideally I should be looking for a largely sedentary job initially on a part time basis! Of course as we all know, such jobs are as rare as hen’s teeth. Even though I was aware that I was not at all well last year it still came as a shock to have it spelled out in black and white and to realise that I am still compromised in what I can do. Not to worry I thought, perhaps in three months time I will feel that much better and at least I have my benefit payments to fall back on. Then yesterday morning I had a letter from DWP to say that I had not 'scored any points' in the medical and so they were stopping my benefit payments with immediate effect. What is most galling is that the letter freely admits that my own doctor has not been consulted when arriving at this decision and nor - by all accounts - have they consulted my medical records. I intend to appeal this arbitrary decision but I cannot understand how they have arrived at a decision which implies that I am perfectly ok. Thus I am between a rock and a hard place. I can still get benefit payments but only if I sign up for Jobseeker’s Allowance, but this means that I have to be fully capable of doing any work they find for me, which I am clearly not, and I am certainly not prepared to compromise my health for the princely sum of £64.30 per week. I shall be seeing my doctor again at the earliest opportunity to seek his views and advice but I just wondered if anyone else has been in a similar situation, especially if anyone has appealed against a DWP medical decision and won? Posted on 11/08/09, 04:11 pm |
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This is the problem with getting bad news at the weekend when all you can do is fret until Monday comes around.
Anyway, having today spoken to DWP, it transpires that there IS an appeals process although for some reason this was not mentioned in the rejection letter. The appeal pack will be sent out to me today and in the meantime I must see my GP again, and get a medical certificate again but this time dated from the rejection date of 5th November as anything prior to that is now considered null and void. Then I have to send that back with the completed appeal form on which I must also write "Please Continue To Make ESA Payments Whilst My Appeal Is Considered". All because they evidently couldn't be bothered to either speak to my doctor or access my medical records which in the current surveillance inspired society they no doubt have every right to do. They didn't say how long the appeal would take but in June I appealed against a decision on my then Jobseekers Allowance, and which I later won. Problem was that it took them three months to reply, and I still haven't had the payment adjudicated in my favour. So if it takes three months this time around it won't matter what the decision is so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a similarly inefficient reponse. PS: What is genuinely disturbing about all of this is that fortunately I still have all of my faculties and so can challenge these absurd decisions. How is someone with any form of mental impairment supposed to cope? 
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sounds alittle like what I am and have been going through for the last 10 mo. I broke my ankel at work and developed a DTV from that. So I am on Workers Comp. I cant see my doctor becouse my Insurance will say it was work related so I have to have workers comp pay. The doctor I was from workers comp never worked with someone that had a DVT to the point I had to tell the doctor about copression stockings. Well they have a drill they did 6 mo on meds and your done. I still had swelling pain foot turning blue and other signs. But they said they did all they are going to do. I keep asking for another oppion. It took 9 mo. for me to see another doctor which is alittle better and out of the blue they gave me some money. Sounds different in some ways to what your going through. I am down to 20 hr. per week for work. And for the most part even though I have insurance i cant use it now. Mixed up systems!!! Yes I am fighting workers comp. in the US its called a QME. Its taking a very long time! I will keep you posted if you like. I wish you the best of luck. Also my understanding is sedentary is not always the best. I have a job that I can sit when I need and mover around if i need. Probley even harder to find.
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Richard you are right, when I initially read Brian's post your name came in focus, man this is JUST LIKE Richard...
You two should get together and fight the system!!!!
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Thanks Richard.
Actually the situation has become a little clearere now with the arrival of another letter which is no doubt the one I should have received in the first place as it explains matters in great detail and also how to appeal! The first (rejection) letter I received was dated November 5th, posted via 2nd class mail and arrived on Saturday. The one that arrived this morning (Nov 10th) was also dated November 5th and supposedly took 5 days to arrive via first class mail. So no doubt someone simply forgot to post it at all until I rang for an appeal pack yesterday. That also arrived this morning. Since all of this correspondence comes from the same place, why is it apparently so difficult to put things in the same envelope? My old boss would have gone beserk if he had found that we were sending three separate letters out to a customer instead of combining them, but government seems to operate on the bottomless pit of money principle EXCEPT when it comes to paying out benefits evidently. I have been doing some follow up research over the last few days and it looks as though most claimants are rejected after attending their medical so I suspect that this is just a weeding out process to try to put people off claiming at all. Anyway I am seeing my own doctor again tomorrow so I will take the DWP correspondence along to show him and will see what he makes of it all and what he can suggest. The main problem as I now understand it is that the whole benefit system revolves around points for being unable to do specific tasks. My problem is that my situation doesn't really relate to those tickbox options and apart from that my current benefit payments are based on my second instance of DVT and not the previous PEs from which my own doctor feels that I have not yet fully recovered as far as day to day fitness goes. Now, I did explain all of this in the free comment area of the claim form I submitted some weeks ago but it seems to be the points based mindset that the DWP adjudicator has adhered to whilst seemingly ignoring my own comments and the medical certificate from my doctor. Apparently the appeals tribunal is completely independent of DWP so I am hoping that they will at least take notice of what I am saying. As far as work goes, I realise that I cannot be just rooted to the spot, and it is just a pity that the company I worked for for 32 years from 1975 closed down in 2007 as what I was doing there would have been ideal, and I know from former colleagues' experiences that they would have been flexible on initial hours and workload. Anyway I hope things work out ok for you Richard and it's nice to know - or should that be depressing to know! - that I am not alone in battling with officialdom.
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I saw my GP this morning and he said that it is almost a daily occurence now that people whom he is treating tell him that they have failed the DWP medical. He has reiterated that he feels that I am not fit to return to work but says that he has been instructed by DWP not to issue me with any further medical certificates as on the strength of a 40 minute interview with a total stranger who has had no contact with my doctor or access to my medical records, they seem to think that I AM fit for work. My doctor tells me that this has nothing at all to do with personal wellness and everything to do with current government policy the main aim of which is to move people off sickness benefit regardless of ability.
The diktat about no more medical certificates goes entirely contra to what I was told by DWP in as much as I have specifically requested to see my doctor for a new medical certificate. Anyway, my doctor has reissued the 13 week certificate regardless of DWP guidelines and has further advised me to get in touch with the local Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) who it seems have a good success rate on helping people with DWP appeals. I understand that what will then happen is that CAB will make contact with my doctor and ask him to supply written evidence as to why he feels that I am unfit for work, which he has told me that he will be more than happy to do. From the sound of things, bringing CAB into the appeals process allows some sort of legal separation for the doctor who can then reasonably state that he is not just working directly for the patient even though that is precisely what is happening! So I will call into the local CAB office today and set the ball rolling. I have to admit though that the one-sided way that 'the system' works is a great revelation to me having previously been in full employment. I had heard of people having problems with benefit entitlement before but never imagined that this was down to official policy, and nor that it would pay (in every sense of the word) to be 'economical with the truth' when discussing health issues at a government sponsored medical. It is also now particularly galling to learn that had I received some 'coaching' prior to completing the initial enquiry form I would probably have been able to achieve the minimum of 15 points necessary to continue my payments without the need for an appeal. This is just SO frustrating, but at least I have the time to deal with it if nothing else.
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There is a clear way of thinking when it comes to programs that are supported by public taxing and spending.
Some people are industrious. They went to work at the earliest practical age, perhaps even having hustled odd-jobs for money before that. In many cases they worked their way through paying their own dues when young. Those people are simply expected to keep on producing and to keep on providing tax revenue to support an ever growing list of programs. If they hit misfortune or disability, they are simply expected to work through it. They find the little bureaucratic rules to be very cleverly written so as to most benefit (or exclusively benefit) politically served classes. The industrious are likely the ones who will work until death, even if it is the very action of doing so that takes them out. Some people were not and are not industrious, whether healthy or sick. They make a profession of gaming various systems, public and private. Whatever the entitlements, they have a way of getting to them. Sometimes such practices have extended into second, third, and fourth generations of dependency. In a situation like yours, where you have obviously shown you can, have, and likely will again live out a history of industry, it only makes sense you would encounter such a hard time despite the fact that your situation is genuine and the need for relief very real. Those like yourself who have carried the load, one way or another will continue to carry the load.
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More 2 the point, WHAT is your point????
What does what you just said have to do with Brian's situation or even Richard's ??? Can you be a tad more clearer when you say something? The lips are moving but nothing is coming out, sorry for being direct but THAT is how I am.
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Sorry about your anger, Dero.
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I think I understand your train of thought More2be, and sadly you are largely correct in you analysis. I left school at 16 and initially took a temporary holiday cover job ironically (now) with the DHSS which was the forerunner of the current DWP. That finished at the beginning of October 1975 and I was then out of work for 3 weeks during which I claimed Supplementary Benefit, which I later offered to repay, much to the amusement no doubt of the then Chancellor Denis Healey who had one of his minions write back to say that wasn't possible. Later that month I secured a job with a company with whom I stayed until the summer of 2007 when they closed their local operation and I was made redundant. Fortunately the staff had received plenty of notice and in the meantime I had managed to line up another job so I was able to start the new job immediately without a break. Sadly that job also ended in redundancy at the end of March 2008 and so I found myself unemployed for the first time as an adult and I didn't like it one bit. It took me eleven weeks to find another job and that was the one I ended up losing due to my subsequent long period of ill health.
I think it is indeed fair to say that there are certain elements within society who feel that claiming benefits is their main raison d'etre, and curiously these people seem to be able to get exactly what they want every time. Some years ago when I was a member of the local gym I was surprised to find a mobility scooter parked outside one day. I was even more surprised on leaving when I realised that the owner of said scooter was the old gent who had been making vigorous use of the gym equipment and had later swum as far as me in the swimming pool! Anyway, back to the real world.... I have seen a Citizen's Advise Bureau advisor this morning and she feels that I have strong grounds for an appeal. By strange coincidence it turns out that her own mother had previously suffered from PE/DVT and so she fully understood my situation. So I now need to go back to CAB again on Monday 23rd November for a more in depth discussion and then they will set things in motion. So things are looking up.
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