Let Battle Commence!

What a bad weekend it has been! I received a response from the DWP at long last on Saturday, great day to receive a letter, means I can do nothing about it until Monday! And I quote:
'I am sorry to inform you that you are not entitled to Employment and Support Allowance. This decision was made because after your Work Capability Assesssment, we have decided that you do not have limited capability for work. We will send you a separate letter explaining the reasons why.'
This incredible statement was followed by the next sentence of:
'I understand that this decision may come as a shock to you. However, I should explain that entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance is not based on someone's health condition or disability itself. It is based on what a person is capable of doing, rather than assuming that their health condition or disability automatically prevents them from being able to work.'
Well, talk about a contradiction in terms, and how is it that a consultant can retire me medically unfit for work, after months of treatment and knowing my case well, but a man (I have no idea if he was a doctor) can examine me for approximately 30 minutes and from this alone they have decided that I am fit to work! They also tell me in this letter that my benefits will stop on 6th June, which basically gives me just over 2 weeks and then my money will be stopped!

I spent the weekend in tears, couldn't sleep, my blood pressure is through the roof, and now I have to fight to try and keep my benefits. The letter goes on for a further 3 A4 pages with a load of information, most of which I do not understand, about how to appeal against the decision, that I can apply for Jobseekers Allowance - how can I get this when basically I can't even cook a meal on my own (I get DLA for this), can't do my own housework (I pay for a cleaner), do my own ironing (I use ironing angels) and even getting up and getting showered leaves me exhausted! I have also been given a blue badge because I cannot walk very far!

This morning I phoned the number on the letter, and spoke to a very nice lady who told me that to keep my benefits I had to appeal against it and send in a sick note with the appeal. She also told me that in 75% of the cases where the benefit was turned down, it was revoked on appeal. But she also told me that the appeals were taking 6 months to be heard because of a back log. What a joke! The back log is because the government have changed the system to save money, but this system is causing more work, and they are spending more money on the appeals tribunals than they are saving on benefits! This country is going downhill so fast!

So now I have got an appointment at my doctors for Friday, I have to wait for the letter telling me how they came to this decision, and then I have a battle on my hands to try and keep the benefits that a consultant told me I was entitled to! In the words of the consultant who told me I had to stop working 'If you do not stop working now, you will be in a wheelchair by the time you are 50'. I am now 54 and I like to think that because I did stop work, my health has not deteriorated as much as it could have done! But since the original diagnosis was made I have also developed osteo-arthritis and Fibromyalgia, and these two, plus the fact that I have two discs missing in my back, have left me in severe pain and with limited movement, a lack of energy that you would not believe, and the worst thing of all, the memory of a goldfish! When I spoke to this woman today she asked me my postcode, I had a terrible job remembering it! So if anyone out there has any idea what sort of job I could do, at the age of 54 with a medical history like mine, and the only qualifications I have are nursing, I would very much like to hear from you! That is of course if I can manage to get out of bed in the first place, because that is something else that is a problem, I sleep less than 4 hours a night, so by 2 p.m. I need to sleep.  Way to go DWP, perhaps next time you want to assess me you would like to move in for a week and see what I have to deal with on a daily, in fact hourly, basis! Maybe then you would feel differently!