Bronchiectasis and ill health retirement

[dawn3y]

9 months ago I posted about my 28 year old daughter who had been struggling to stay in work for several years because of bronchiectasis, severe asthma etc. I was asking about members experience of applying for ill health retirement and whether anyone had been successful, what the process was etc. Lots of lovely people replied and gave me some very valuable advice, all of which we took on board and went ahead with my daughters ill health retirement application. 9 months on, I just wanted to update you, although it is still not concluded, I do feel as though we are almost there. Today we finally saw the occupational Heath doctor who assessed my daughter based upon the evidence from work, from the consultant, the GP and other evidence we submitted. The doctor emailed his report this afternoon, which gives his opinion that she is permanently incapable of doing her current job and permanently incapable of achieving gainful employment before her normal pensionable age. Clearly this is bittersweet - not what you want to hear about your daughter but given her health, she cannot work any longer and so this is what the report needed to say to potentially make life easier financially. Anyway, I know it's not over yet as work still have to agree the release of her pension benefits, but I'm thinking that surely they cannot ignore the opinion of the OH doctor, so they should award her tier 1 benefits (her pension as if she'd worked to retirement age.) So I'm keeping everything crossed that work do the right thing (and obviously will challenge it if not but just wanted to thank members for sharing their experiences with me, can't tell you how helpful it was.

[y_not]

Fingers crossed for her

[mrsmummy]

A good outcome.

[dawn3y]

Thank you for your kind words. This is so very true. My daughter has battled to stay in work for the last 5 years but eventually reached the point where she realised that life is too short, and she did need to prioritise her health, just as you say x

[hoping2improve]

Bittersweet for you, but at least she can now put her health first. Good Luck to you both

[Claudine]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with her story. Do you know what caused her Bronchiectasis? How long has she had it? What treatment does she get? It's so sad in someone so young.

[dawn3y in reply to Claudine]

Hi Claudine, apologies for delay in replying. My daughter has had severe asthma and allergies forever. But as a child it wasn’t dealt with well, despite constant chest infections, awful glue ear etc. I was told she was just allergic to everything and we’d just have to get used to it. She was diagnosed with bronchiectasis in her late teens and her asthma medication was having no effect any longer. She was so poorly that in 2014 they decided to perform a lobectomy and remove the section of the lung with the bronchiectasis. It was a scary time, on life support, very slow recovery. We have recently been told that the bronchiectasis has gone, and there is an improvement in that meds do now work, but she is still on 30 tablets a day, including permanent steroids and antibiotics, nebulisers 4 times a day, nasal drops and rinses. Although employed full time since she was 16 years old, since 2012, shes ended up off work every winter. Consultants are now testing her for Primary Ciliary Dyskensia (PCD), which, if a positive diagnosis, then she will have had this from birth and this is what will have caused the bronchiectasis. We will have the results in 2 months time. Just as an addition to my original post, my daughter has now received confirmation from her employer that she is being retired on ill health grounds and has been awarded tier 1 benefits, so will be paid her pension as if she had paid in until she was 68. It’s a good outcome. Some said she wouldn’t get it because of her age, but her age was irrelevant, an independent doctor ruled that she couldn’t be gainfully employed and so employers had to award her the full pension. Some said she wouldn’t get it because it was so expensive for the employer, but they have an insurance policy. Lots of people on this forum however, told me not to give up, fight for what she was entitled to, ensure we had a thorough consultants report and provide as much relevant information as we could about how her illness affected her. That advice was spot on. My daughter will retire on Tuesday, aged 29. She can now focus on staying well without having to worry about her mortgage or bills! Thank you to everyone who responded x

[falconcottage1]

Hi there. Don't give up. My bronchiectasis is not that bed yet, but my partner has a rare condition called primary orthostatic tremor. This basically means he has a permanent tremor, and cannot stand unless he leans against something or he will fall to the floor. We were in Wales at the time, and seen an occupational health doctor who wrote to the department of works and pensions that he was capable of work (although as what- brain surgeon or tightrope walker I don't know). Anyway he had to go through the humiliation of signing on and applying for jobs (the security at job centre were brilliant helping him to stand once he managed to get through the door).

Needles to say he was not capable of working and no one would consider him due to health and safety. Anyway to cut a long story short we went to the cab to se the man who had helped us complete the paper work who said that we got the wrong judge as someone with a similar condition had attended court the day after us with a different judge who had granted them disability. His words were:"this judge has stiched u up so well u will never get disability for that condition". We were advised to apply for a diferent condition and try again. We moved nearer to his family in Chester, and needles to say Bob was depressed. Anyway we saw another occupational doctor who took no notice of the low mood but was amazed that he had not been granted disability

for the primary cause of the depression : the tremor. To my surprise we received a letter saying the tremor rendered him unable to work. My advice at the end of this is :don't give up. Even if as we were told we would not stand a chance of getting disability benefit. Good luck to your daughter, I know the benefit is biter sweet but don't give up.