Hooray, Dh is fit to work!!!!

[maktaitai]

Oh it's like a miracle! Just a 30-minute interview with the benefits checker and hey presto! The depression, the anxiety, the delusions of telepathy, the inability to cope with daily conversations - all gone!! He has absolutely no points at all on the medical questionnaire, and is completely fit for work! We are liberated from the benefits trap! Huzza!

I'm SO looking forward to supporting him through his new job*! I'm really looking forward to the breakdowns in tears, the suicidal depressions, the accusations of infidelity! Oh boy, it's a brand new life!

[*if any]

that's really rubbish for you - I'm so sorry

???? who did the interview??? Can you get a second opinion?

So sorry to hear that you are having to cope with this

Me too!! Isn't it wonderful :) I got 9 points, appealed, lost and was told to go to a job seekers appt - 7 years of panic attacks and agoraphobia no way could I attend the appt so I claim nothing, I have no idea how some people get ESA/DLA

thank you for posting, it means a lot - we can appeal which we will

maktatai - so very sorry for what has happened to your H and what I fear is going to happen to hundreds of others. I think people with mental health problems are going to come off worse because as far as I understand it, most of the questions are related to physical fitness.

Also the fact that a clerk or administrator makes these decisions is absolutely disgusting. I dreaded a tory government and now we are seeing what they are capable of. I think I read that qualified medics will be carrying out these assessments but not until 2013.

I am glad to hear you can appeal - does your GP (who presumably knows your H's condition) have any input to the appeal. Could any other mental health person assist or maybe MIND.

I think it's disgusting .... mental ill-health is not being taken seriously as a real disability. Clearly these people have never experienced true mental illness. I know for one, if I had been able to work, I WOULD have done. They don't hospitalise you for mental illness for no reason. It's because you are seriously UNWELL.

So sorry for you

I think the person who conducted the medical examination was a doctor - dh not sure of what

tbh even if we lose the appeal because we still don't have enough 'points' to make us eligible for the benefit, i kind of want to put on record that we do not agree with what was put on the 'points' form. Apparently dh has 'no trouble' doing all sorts of things including meeting new people. Well, he spent the day after the medical in bed, in tears; i've just spent my precious half day which I normally spend preparing for the rest of the week's work, talking him out of his depression again. i'm whacked. He may be fit for work, but possibly only at the cost of my fitness for work.

i don't think it's as simple as saying 'tories/libs out' though, there is definitely a consensus in the country that 'too many' people are on benefits, and you see plenty of threads on here about who has a plasma telly while on benefits or whatever - it's means testing by mass disapproval. this is being done by our collective consent. there's already been one headline about 1 in 4 people assessed under this system are actually fit for work. yes, if you ignore everything they tell you and record none of it on the form.

i have no idea what the solution is - dh has worked most of his life and doesn't enjoy being on benefits either. and i can see how it is spinned positively - the checker looks at how the person is now, with no reference to their past medical records. well, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Could you get his gp to write a report and a psychiatrist's report to help?

Sorry it has affected you both this way, sounds horrible.