Hi Gail

hi angela

well had the letter confirming my appointment for the medical next week and 10 mins later had a phone call to say it was cancelled the doc is now calling at my house sometime in the next week he/she will phone to let me know when! as for bending to touch my toes they got no chance , and as for going back to work well as soon as the surgeon says im fit enough i,ll be there no hestitation, cant wait to start earning again. one way it,ll be better them calling at my home as they can see the aids i need then , and all the letters ive sent to the hospital trying to get my surgery asap. thanks for the info. i was quite nervous about it but as you say im a genuine case so whats to be worried about. gail

The DWP medical is exactly the same as the DLA application with regards to questioning. From my experiences both now & past, to get InCap you have to be passed unfit by the DWP doctor that examines you. What made me laugh though (not literally) was that I had to WALK in agony the 50 minutes from the train station to the DWP centre & back again (they pay expenses to the centre if you have not got return fares - who's going to pay for a taxi in advance for return fare?). They don't tell you on the spot what their decision is & they tell you in writing within 28 days.

Essentially going by their questions etc, if you get granted one, you should then get the other within reason. You are required to have a new medical every 12 months in most cases (mine is due again in May 2008).

Hiya,

I've probably got all this to come. I've just been awarded Incapacity Benefit..they've sent me a capability questionairre and say that if the form doesn't give them the info they need I'll have to go for a medical. If they ask me to bend + touch me toes they can get lost as I've been told to avoid bending at all costs. I hope they will understand this. Things have changed since the Op but I've been told by all that it'll be 3 months before I can return to work...they'll probably turn 'round + say I don't qualify now...but we'll wait and see..I have no faith in the Benefits system. :cry:

Take care,

Jules xx :D

hi all well totally confused now !!!! i have a letter from my consultant saying no lifting cannot work etc and they are sending a dwp doc??? is this doc more qualified than the ns then? as you say darren if your passed as unfit to work with all the medical notes to back it up why do we have to have another to claim dla?? i know if you have the high rate dla you dont have anymore ib medicals(net research) i had to laugh they had sent me a letter giving me directions to walk(the walk i do most days) BUT with their letter it states i could do the walk there in 18 mins(superwoman im not) i can do this walk at a reasonable pace in 35 mins. thing is i can walk but sitting and other things are a problem, my ns suggested trying to walk every day as it promotes bone growth and hopfully help with my recovery post op.

jules i shouldnt think you.ll be asked to attend a medical in the near future not having just had surgery.

hi angela have you heard from the dwp yet about the decision.? i have learnt so much from this site about ib and dla etc its a minefield out there !!! and with having a genuine illness this stress does make things worse i can do without this worry , i have enough to do trying to sort finances with our income halved. gail

This is what I went through. In May 2006 I was forced to stop working due to illness and other problems at home. I started off claiming JSA even though I was being signed off by my GP for a month at a time. In October 2006, I was told that due to the length of time I had been signed off by the GP, I was no longer eligible for JSA, and my benefits were being changed to Income Support (this took nearly 8 weeks for them to sort out & living without money was a nightmare as they refused crisis loans as well!). In May 2007, I recieved a letter from the DWP stating that I was required to have a medical at their Peterborough centre due to the amount of time I was signed off by the GP's sick notes. 2 weeks after attending the medical centre, I received a letter stating that I would now be receiving InCap as well as IS (amount of money was still the same) and I am not capable of working at all until at least May 2008 where I would be reassessed by them. In October 2007, I was put on the higher rate of InCap/IS due to being on InCap for longer than 28 weeks (apparently).

A friend of mine had to attend a DWP medical a month after having major reconstructive surgery to rebuild his right shoulder joint as it kept dislocating itself for no reason. At the medical they told him he was able to go back to work because he could put a baseball cap on with his left arm (it was his right shoulder that was rebuilt & his surgeon told him it would be 18 months at least before he would be fit to work again). His benefits were stopped immediately even though he was not fit to work & has only just had his arm taken out of a sling after 11 months of wearing it & intense physio! His benefits were reinstated after a couple of weeks due to his surgeon writing to the DWP informing them of their error. It doesn't matter to the DWP if you have had surgery a day before the medical they ask you to attend.

Hi

I was signed off sick from July 2005 to April 2006, but hadn't actually worked since January 2005. During this 15 month period I received no benefits whatsover, even though I filed in over 300 (yep 300!!) pages of forms. I did eventually receive one payment of about £460 AFTER I went back to work and then it was only because I complained to the Chief Exceutive of DWP. That covered the period from January 2006-March 2006.

In March 2006 I switched to JSA, advised the IB people and then was relentlessly hunted down to go a medical.......AFTER I HAD STOPPED CLAIMING AND THEY PAID ME NO MONEY ANYWAY!!!!!!! I was told that I needed to have the medical because I had been receiving a national insurance credit each week towards my pension. They were deadly serious. So they paid me nothing when I was sick, but I would get an extra penny a week on my state pension in 20 years time!! This country has truly gone mad!!!

TFU

Hi Guys,

Guess what! I received a letter from the benefits agency today ( the 6th in 7 days) saying I have to attend an interview next week \" to discuss how we can improve your chances of finding work, now or in the future\". I have work, thanks very much and have every intention of returning in the New Year..oh and if I dont attend, my benefits could be affected. I'll take along the Med 4 my GP signed today stating I should refrain from work for the next 10 weeks. See how they like that. If they keep harrassing me with all these letters, my back would have healed but I probably will have developed some stress related illness instead! :x As you can probably see, my bugbear isn't the NHS but the delightful benefits system :roll:

Take care,

Jules xx :D :D

My bugbear is the NHS, DWP & HMRC at the moment. In fact lets just call it the LABOUR GOVERNMENT

Do you know, Darren, I was thinking exactly the same thing as I was making dinner..........it all leads to one thing....an incompetant Government!!!! :roll:

Jules xx :D :D

Hi Crazydaisy,

I totally agree with you 100% I don't know what's happening to this Country, maybe if we came from another country as an immigrant, we would have had our Ops by now.

Hi Gail,

No I'm still waiting to hear from the DWP, but in the meantime I have applied for Income Support for the 2nd time, the lady I spoke to said I tick all the right boxes to claim, but it's not up to her to decide, I've probaly wasted my time again. But as my Mortgage Protection Cover ends in Feb 08 I'll try anything, I've worked bloody hard to have my own home and I'm damned if I'm going to loose it because of my Back Problems. If they hurried up the Op I could be back at work in the New Year but I'm still waiting to hear about a date yet!

Take care all.

Angela

hi angela

im finding things a bit tricky finance wise at the moment, i have been able to claim ib but whats £72 a week? all year i,ve been saying oh i should be back in work by july, then sept and now god knows when, i havent had a date yet for my op, money is getting tighter and tighter but as my hubby is working we cant claim anything else, the thing is the longer we,r off work the more we worry over finances, i know once ive had the op i can concentrate on recovering and getting back to work but at the moment we,r just left in limbo, every morning i eagerly wait the postman to see if he,s got my appointment, as i was told around xmas! i really got to get a life lol. gail :surfer:

Hi Gail,

It is a really tough time to be worried about our Finances with Christmas only 4 weeks away.

My kids are 16 and 13 and one wants a Laptop the other a Playstation 3 I don't know how I'll manage.

I know what you mean about waiting for a Date to come through in the post all I seem to get is bills and junk mail. As the days go on I'm becoming lower and lower I've got to the stage where I can't be bothered to do anything.

I'd even be happy to go in and have my Op at Christmas that's how bad things have gotten.

Take care, I'm sick of moaning but what are we supposed to do, just sit back and wait month after month after month. :cry:

Take care.

Angela