I was opening the post this morning when out of one envelope came a letter telling me that I would need to attend a health assessment in order to continue with my claim for PIP (personal independance allowance, what used to be the old disability living allowance). I was pleased that finally my claim was being looked at until I read where I had to go. Of all the many assessment centres around the UK I had to attend one in Chelmsford. That's over 33 miles away and would take well over an hour to drive. And then I realised that I have been given an 8am appointment!
You must be joking!
How the hell am I going to get to Chelmsford for 8am?? I would need to leave at 6.30am to get there in time for the appointment so I would have to get up at 5.30/5.45am! At that time I will still be having my feed and because of my medication and the way my illness affects me I struggle in the mornings so there is no way I could manage to get up at that time.
Plus I know I couldn't manage to drive that far myself. I'm just about managing to do the little drives around town and travelling in general makes me terribly ill now. Even as a passenger any journey over about half an hour leaves me washed out, feeling sick and needing a lie down after it.
So I rang the customer service number on the letter. I was put on hold...for 20 minutes! I'm sure they do it in the hope that you will give up and hang up but I was determined to sort this out. This in itself is a big deal for me as making telephone calls is something that I find very difficult. I find it hard constructing sentences and responding to the other person quickly enough and I know I must sound like a right div. Plus with how bad my memory is at the moment I can forget what done one says almost straight away after they've said it and I can find myself asking the same question 2 or 3 times (reinforcing the sounding like a div!)
So after an eternity my call was finally answered. I explained that I had a few problems with the appointment I had been sent.
Q1. The fact that it's in Chelmsford.
A1. Apparantly the government say that it's acceptable for disabled/ill people to travel up to 60 miles to an assessment. What the fuck! 60 miles?? You have to be kidding?
Q2. The fact that I can't get to Chelmsford. I can't use public transport for short, local journeys let alone a distance like that. I can't drive that far as I'm only really capable of doing small trips in the car as driving leaves me exhausted.
A2. I was asked if I could go by taxi. Erm yes I can but it would cost me a fortune and I just can't afford it out of my benefits money. I was then told that I could have my taxi fair paid. What the fuck! That's a 66 mile round journey. I have no idea what that would cost but would guess between £60-80. What a waste of money. Of your money, tax payers money.
Q3. I couldn't get to Chelmsford for 8am. I would have to leave about 6.45am so would need to be up around 6am if not earlier. I would still be having my feed, I wouldn't be due any pain relief medication until 8am so I would struggle with pain throughout the journey. Plus my illness means that I don't cope with mornings particularly well and it takes me a bit of time to 'get going'.
A3. There is no way to change the time, place or date. I was told that a block of appointments are released and that once these are booked/allocated you have to wait for the next block to make changes. So I have to wait until the 5th February to be able to try and change the stupid appointment I have. It's a bit like the system that most GP practices seem to have adopted which just doesn't allow for any flexibility depending on peoples individual circumstances.
So that's that. I'm waiting to find out if my taxi request has been approved (and if it is then I was told that it would be a blanket approval so if my appointment changed I wouldn't have to re-request it which to me seems bonkers. Surely if I was going further away they would want to cost that up? Or if I ended up going somewhere closer to home they should challenge whether or not I still needed a taxi- this is why the whole system is fucked up) I'm counting down the days until 5th February to see if I can change my appointment or if I'm going to be getting an early cab to Chelmsford!
NB x
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