Tuesday 22 April 2014

WCA Debacle

I first wrote this last Tuesday, having come back from the (failed) WCA.  I have tried to make it read "nicer" but, as my lovely grandma always used to say "You can't polish a turd".  The turdiness of the experience has, I think, influenced my writing.  Ho hum.

Anyway, it was decreed by IDS that I should have a Work Capability Assessment in relation with my latest claim for ESA.  Now, I get PHI through work (fortunately) and this means I get the sum of precisely £0 when out of the assessment phase of ESA (the first 13 weeks...heh...I made my claim initially in February 2013 and was "time limited" in February 2014), unless I get put in the WRAG or Support Group when I should get *something*.

So, I'm waiting and waiting and waiting for the brown envelope shiny white envelope, and hence the panic to set in.

First letter comes, I've got my WCA on 21 March  This is the 21st anniversary of my mum's (early...she was 46) death.  Not optimum, but OK, I'll go with it.  BUT WAIT.  The Boy has just been offered a job.  He arranges to start his new job the following Monday so he can support me at the WCA.

Then (on the Monday before the 21st) I get another letter saying "don't come on 21st" but with no new date (so hubby has missed out on a week's earnings because he only delayed starting work for a week so he could support me at my WCA.  It's also meant we've had to go nearly six weeks until he gets paid, because of the cut-off date etc.  Ho hum again).

New letter comes on the 19th, saying the appointment has been rescheduled for the 25th March, but please call beforehand if you can't manage getting out of the second floor in an emergency.  I can't.  I only do steps when I absolutely have to.  On doing a "drive by" recce of the place, there's a GIANT step to the front door, because my plan (as there's no parking nearby) was to park at the nearby shopmobility hire place and scoot my way through town.  NOPE.

So I ring up, and speak to a LOVELY lady, who agreed that it was a bit silly to have disability assessments in places that are not disabled-person-accessible, but wouldn't agree with me when I said that we all knew why that was (because if you can get there, then you're too healthy for PIP/DLA and/or are fit for work)(I must say that at this point, that if I was fit for work, I'd be doing my job.  The one I still theoretically have.  The one I still pay tax and NI on my (PHI) earnings from.  I'm not claiming benefit because I do not have a job, I am claiming benefit because I'm too ill to do my job).

My assessment is moved to the nearest centre with "step free" access.  This is 30 miles away, but only three motorway junctions, and fortunately I have a car.

So now it's time to go for my WCA.  I have my lovely friend (Judith) who comes with me to push my chair and drive if necessary and help me generally.

So, we leave Home at 1.40, and arrive at the Centre at 2.25 (for a 2.40 appointment).

Go and give my details, are told there's a slight delay, possibly half an hour.  There are two people doing assessments and they're both running a bit behind.  Think OK, well, we've got here now.  Give details for travel expense claim.  Notice ESA50 plus supporting documentation is in file.  Feel slightly relieved.  For some reason I didn't scan the ESA50 before I sent it, but I do have copies of all the supporting documentation.  At this point I realise I'm desperate for a pee (I really should speak to the doctor about the fact that I get Very Little Warning before I'm bursting and, if I was a five-year-old I'd be doing the wee dance) and we have to go out of the ATOS bit into the "main reception" because that's where the only accessible loo is.

Go for pee...great toilet.  Except that the alarm cord is wound round the hand rail and there's a sanitary towel bin in the transfer space.  One would think that a Government (or Government-esque, it's shared between ATOS and the Charity Commissioners) building would know how to lay out an accessible toilet (or not, I mean, the rest of them couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery).

So we sit around for a bit.  The lights in the waiting area are REALLY harsh, making my teeth hurt harsh (usually only happens before a thunderstorm).  After about 20 minutes I have to change position because I'm starting to flag, so I end up lying on floor with feet on chair.  Most of the time at home I'm sitting on the sofa with my feet up (or, if there's people there who need to sit where my feet go, on a footstool).  The people waiting ahead of me get seen, and the receptionist comes out to check I'm OK and whether I want to postpone.  I don't.  I've travelled all that way and want to get it over and done with.  We get lights switched to "mostly off" so as to help me.

Sit around for a bit longer, still lying on floor.  Then get back into chair, mainly because I'm in lots of pain lying on the floor and may as well be in pain sitting up for a bit.   Other people come and go - one lady has obviously struggled to get there (with her elderly mother for support), it seemed like it was the first time she'd been out of bed in months, but when told that it would be about a half hour wait just couldn't handle it and had to go home again.  We told her on her way out that she should ask for a home assessment.  One lad comes, late for his appointment (which was due 15 minutes after mine) because his watch was wrong.  He was told that he couldn't be seen because he was late, even though his time was after mine and I was still waiting!

At 3.30, we wonder how much longer it's going to be.  I'm starting to flag seriously now.  I've got involuntary arm and leg twitches going on.  J mentions that she hasn't seen that before with me - it's happened for as long as I can remember, if I'm proper tired I twitch like a dog-chasing-bunnies-in-its-sleep crossed with Michael Flatley - but I tend to sit on my hands if I feel it going on.  It's not really the done thing to be twitching in public

At 3.45, the receptionist person comes out and says that they've just read my paperwork (by which they mean the covering letter sending in the ESA50) which requests that the appointment be recorded (as is my right).  They don't have any recording equipment.  They can either do the WCA but not record it, or they can reschedule.  I opt for rescheduling because I need the WCA recorded because of brain fog etc.  Also DIDN'T THEY READ THE BASTARD FORM BEFORE NOW?  Apparently it was because I didn't write it on the form itself, but all I put on the form itself was "please see additional information" because I didn't have the spoons to handwrite it and instead typed everything.

At this point, Judith asks whether the person due to assess me was a doctor and was told no, it would've been a "Nurse Practitioner".  As I have a neurological condition (ME) then I should, theoretically, be seen by a doctor.  What's the chances of that happening?

We left at 3.50 and headed back home, hitting rush hour on the way.  Great. Just what I needed.

I couldn't actually do anything that night (literally crashed midway through eating a kitkat), or for the days afterwards.  It's only now, a week later, that I can start to think properly, and I have only been dressed twice (both times in leggings and a t-shirt, so the nearest "outside" clothes to jammies there is) in the interim period.
I now need to get on with my complaint to my MP and ATOS.  And wait for the next appointment to come...wonder if I'll actually get a WCA on this occasion?