Help with new ESA benefit

[Twinkle12345]

My husband has had chronic hep b for 13 years he has massive scarring on his liver, has 6 monthly scans is on lamiduvine and adefivir ( sorry for spelling ) he has good Gladys and bad days, fatigued etc he has been on incapacity benefit for several years but now has received a letter about the new ESA saying he has to have tests, I just do not think he is fit to work, apart from all the associated stuff of his hep, he has bouts of severe depression etc, and is already getting in a state about what is going to happen, anyone been through this? Advice would be greatly appreciated

[chris2591]

I am not sure if this is the same as I had a few weeks ago, but I am on esa and had to go to a medical. I was really worried about it but went with my husband. They asked me lots of questions and I had to show them any letters or documentation relating to my illness. It was all very straightforward and the person I saw was simply trying to get information about how my illness affects me on a daily basis( I have AIH).They are probably just checking that your husbands condition is as he says it is and he fits their claim criteria. I hope it goes well for you both and that it is not too upsetting as you really don't need more hassle! Good luck!

[Twinkle12345]

Thanks, all the other medicals he has had have said he not fit to work, but you hearing so much hype on the t v that you worry they are just saying everyone fit! It's a worrying time and if you are ill the extra worry just does not help at all, I have enquirer at the hospital about getting his notes, the GP is not the sort to bother to even write a letter, and to be honest he just leaves it all to the hospital, simply issuing whatever pills they prescribe! Thanks for your reply,

[Hidden]

Hi

I had similar but was just requested to send in information, My wife has kept every piece of documentation from the hospital and the consultant was very helpful in sending a letter to confirm my condition and I am unfit for work.

The hospital will supply copies of all reports, we went direct the hospital as like you the GP we had was not good at doing anything like this.

I was worried, but I get the feeling they are just checking for any change, and in fact helped me to find payments I was not claiming

I hope it all goes as well for you, to not to worry, Citizens advice can help in these cases and local to me there a number of centres where you can get advice on what to fill in and how.

The main thing seems to be to describe the worst day as the example

Good Luck

David

[Twinkle12345]

Thanks, he says he feels like a scrounger and I know on good days he could probably be ok, but on the bad days he simply couldn't, not to mention the permanent fatigue he seems to suffer with, I have told him to tell him how he feels at his worst, am waiting to hear bak from the hospital so hopefully the notes will show he does have a chronic illness and that he is not making it up.

[olliedog]

Ive had no end of problems with esa.

I changed doctors and since then ive slowly but surely gone down hill.

I suffered a massive gi bleed 2 years ago with gross ascites and everything that goes with it.

I had deep routed problems and id almost drank myself to death i havent drank since and nor will i again.

My new gp didnt read my notes id been to see him numerous times with the common sude effects most people get but i was suffering in particularly mentally which was the main problem.

My doctor even though he knew it near impossible for me to go out on my own decided i was ok to go back to work.

I barely leave home anymore for one i cant afford to on the 71 a week i get and two i suffer severe anxiety.

Although ive inflicted myself surely after almost 3 months in hospital over a 7 month period helped me physically i still had to battle with what caused it but following my doctors sheer disregard for this he sent a statement telling atos i am under investigation for liver cirhhosis even though i had a history of portal hypertension and varices and edema and ascites and jaundice blood clotting problems hence why i bled out and had to spend 5 days in icu and had the family in to say their goodbyes.

One doctor not reading his notes has seen me plummet from 11st 11 to just over 10st.

I dont sleep with worry im severely depressed my car which wss a heap but the support paud the insurance so i could get a lift in it to sppiintments had to go. I travelled home by bus and train after my last endoscopy i have nothing left and its because a doctor didnt do his job.

Dont count your chickens because i was told i need a liver transplant and im clearly unfit for work but Atos reckon i can work because i managed to hold a convetsation raise my arms above my head and sit on a chair with a back.... There words in black and white and even though im told ill never get better without a new liver they reckon im better as i might not die in the next six months.

If he can answer a phone he can work???????

I thought the lady i spoke to was ok too giving words of encouragement until i read her report.

The most laughable part is they have dragged this to a tribunal costing the tax payer thousands ive already recieved over 300 pieces of paper from them they have my records or so they say and its still ongoing.

They drag ir on and on leaving you living off nothing trying to eat right is hard anyway but try shopping with a few quid for the week.

Dont trust anyone to do with the esa system its a way of getting sick unfit and seriously ill or disabled people to work when they clearly cannot.

Do you think id try survive on what i get if i was able bodied? Well the dwp who earn more an hour than i have left for shopping a week even if they were on minimum wage think i can.

[Mandy1983 in reply to olliedog]

I feel for you .iff your doctor (any of them) got it wrong and you lost money through esa or pip which you can have both for this .I would call it "official error" no time limit for this with the system and esa ect .as long as you have copies and proofs of this from your records , is ask to go to a tribunal and also first for a review if your circumstances. Send in copies of all information left out an tell them how unwell you are.iff they don't listen use the " official error " to go to tribunal.chances are you will win given what you have said .most do as long ss you have evidence.keep originals only give copies.good luck hun 😁

[Mandy1983 in reply to Mandy1983]

I had multiorganfailure due to azaithioprine toxicity and was paralysed .They sent me home on a terminal illness form as I'm dying .the esa gave me a letter saying I had to travel hundreds of miles away to a back to work questionnaire it's pathetic but my carers were looking after me and I was paralysed and couldn't move having drains too. My daughter rang them up and said I'd not ever been on benefits an now I'm dying it had to be a joke ( no joke) I shouted down the phone from my hospital bed in my living room " I'll put you on tv an I'll make sure I'm heard Also you better sort me out with some money or ill bring in the papers as im dying you idiots.i put it in WRITTING too.i got my money as they had broken the law.they can't send any doctor out to you under special circumstances of a ds1500.as your dying.These ridiculous people want to break you down an strip you bare to die with nothing. Fight them with their own rules.its all on THEIR website , their rules for you.now they expected me to die within 6 6mths but touch wood still here now was an pip have done the same again and I'm under 2 gatros liver transplant clinic ( I don't meet the criteria for a transplant ) even though the medical specialists caused my multiple organ failure due to azaithioprine toxicity and not being MONITERED.im too ill and would die during the anesthestic they claim.its all sick in the head stuff.i have massive depression I'm young and angry and have no justice but I do try and put life into perspective. We all have a relatively short life.Dont let these scumbags esa or pip take you down.They are the lowest of the low.i worked all my life had a business and a chronic bowel disease an chrohns an R.A. O.A. O.P.A. AN FIBRO .HERNIA .CANCER which they can't treat coz it will kill me with the liver problem.chronic liver disease.high blood pressure.thyroid.insulin diabetic,BECAUSE My pancreas failed also along with kidney trouble. Diverticulitis and an ulcer . Now in a wheelchair.and a thrombiitic problem too but according to my new rubbish gp I'm fine .they are an idiot of a gp.we must not let these fools win.let them go chase the well who don't want to work.not the ill. I hope we all get peace from these horrid vile creatures

[Twinkle12345]

Clearly you have and are still going through an awful lot, and sadly other than the two previous replies most of what you said is what I am hearing also, my husbands depression is a real worry to me, and if/ when they say he fit for work I really cannot guess what his reaction will be, I know that for the most part none of this seems to worry them, and I am concerned it is a deeply flawed system that is going to cause serious problems for those who are genuine, those who aren't will just find another way round it all anyway

[olliedog]

But it is totally inhumane to make somebody who worries whether theyll see next month or even day this is a brutal disease and it effects everybidy in certain ways i cope with pain constipation etc but nobody especially the dwp is interested in the mental issues you have to deal with the mood swings loved ones put up with do you reckon someone i answrr a phone to if thats the job they earmark me for will take into consideration my flaws i.e forgetful, snappy for no reason etc ?

No cos why should they i shouldnt be there in the first place just to save a few quid a week for the dwp meanwhile they are the only ones gaining. Its like being sent to the workhouse to pay your way yotally and utterly disgusting in the mentime whilst people likw me plunge into the depths of poverty my next step is the food bank i seriously cannot afford to eat a good diet and its making my health deteriorate but we can still send aid to other countries when here in the UK People are literally starving to death because they vannot afford to buy the foods that they really do need just to survive.

I have one pair of boots with holes in no clothes fit me i dont have a phone like most people think benefits claimants have i dont have any habits or anything i cant afford any i have basic tv no sky like most people think we all have i afford to barely survive but if anyone can let me know id be better off in prison at least i know id get three meals a day i get one at the moment ps i am not a criminal ive never been to prison but they get looked after better than i could ever dream of right now

i used to love our country and be proud of where i was from i used to believe the benefits system was for the needy but as each day passes i wonder why i bothered paying my taxes for the 22 years before i became ill????????!!!!!!!

[molly829 in reply to olliedog]

Shame on uk ,I had assment even with a hbp of 210,pluse rate 145 , when I was there not being able to walk more than 100yards ,and chronic hep c wich after treatment has cleared although now I chronic liver disease, I was told in a letter I am fit for work ,if I use a wheelchair (how do I get on a bus with a bloody weelchair, my mandatory decsion has been denied, do not trust acessesor, do not look into eyes do not have conversation as they to got me on this,also well kempt , come on this is a farce thousands are dying through ill health,forced to work,its victorian I to have had to use food banks my sympathy goes outto all in same situation.

[Pensylvania]

Hello Twinkle.

Yes, I'm afraid I agree 100% with Olliedog. It really is a sad state of affairs. And a Doctor's letter doesn't seem to be of any use at these medicals, what your husband has to do is tell them all of his symptoms on his Worst days., Its all about figures with Atos, and I know that recently they have been told to cut back on the amount of people they are saying are fit for work, because they were getting carried away. (!) Its a battle to get what your entitled to, but don't give up, tell them, as I say all the worst symptoms and that they are on a daily basis.

Good Luck.

[Twinkle12345 in reply to Pensylvania]

Hi

Well the dreaded questionnaire has arrived and he as until August to fill it in, I have watched him deteriorate with all the stress of it all, and he as got iller than ever and there is no way he could work in this condition, he feels anxious about writing things about when he is on his worst days as he says it would sound like he making it up and sounds like a scrounges, it's a funny state of affairs and cannot see it improving

[nutrimar in reply to Twinkle12345]

Hi Twinkle. If you are having problems with the form and getting stressed about it, you can always make an appointment with Citizens Advice. I did, and they were a tremendous help. I never thought I'd get ESA (or DLA as it was), but their help as well as the consultants help swung the case in my favour.

[Twinkle12345]

Hi, got home today and he has filled the form out, not showing him at his worst as far as I am concerned but he said he felt a fraud writing anything else, I saw there is a place for friend/carer to write something, as a wife is it my place to put something? I hot home tonight and he is really stressed and upset have watched him go downhill rapidly since all this started, thanks for all the responses so far

[Ruby52]

Well I have cirrhosis, fatty liver, decompensated, level C and a heart disease, I can not walk more than 15meters, can not clime the stairs, feel sick, tired, on so many meds I've lost count, have bad toxins most days so can not remember things from on min to the next. I was on DLA went to two meetings, one the medical one & one at the job centre plus, The Doctor at the medical meeting told me I was not fit for work, I had a letter two weeks later from the Job centre saying I was fit to go to work and put me on a small amount of Job seekers, and was told to get a volunteer Job till I attend my Job interview. I told them I have been in work since I was 15yr old, I am now 53yrs old, I said can't you let me go in peace, Sorry but No arms or legs shame get back to work !!!!! I do wish you much luck, hope it go's well for you x