Back in the DHSS

[tamaranth]

Except it's the DWP these days. Have spent the last hour filling out a form about my father and am still only on page 26. As he is already in nursing care, why do they need to know whether or not he can cook a hot meal? And as I don't see him day-to-day or spend a whole day with him, I don't know the answers to a lot of the questions ("How long does it take you to have a bath?") Unsure why I still need to fill this form out when he has not lived at home for over two years. I've given them the name and number of the nursing care director (who can print off my father's case notes and send them straight to the DWP).

Also, it's horrible. My father used to be a strong, capable man. Now I have to write things like "He has no strength in his hands and cannot turn a tap." And I have to sign the form, because he can't produce a signature any more.

"How many days a week would you have these problems?"

Seven days a week, for the rest of his life.

*kicks DWP*

Comments

[cinzia.livejournal.com]

(((you)))

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry; whenever DWP (or anyone else) pays money out, they have to be sure that the conditions for the payment are satisfied. We'd like to find a better way than long claim forms, but it's difficult -- the only real development in that direction is long, online claim forms. It means that when people are in difficult and sad situations, the requirement to give a lot of detailed information can make matters worse. The Pension Service can probably help you to some extent; they'll probably need to see you anyway if you're going to act for your father, unless you already have an enduring power of attorney (which you might well).

I'm probably no help at all, because my detailed benefits knowledge is now so out of date it's dangerous. But if there's anything I can do to help, let me know.

Practically, if you don't know the answers to a lot of the questions, you should try to get help from someone who's seeing your dad more often before sending the form back. Otherwise the clerk (who is paid about as much as people who make coffee in Starbucks) will just send it straight back to you with little red marks against the unanswered questions -- or worse, will assume that the answer is that your dad is completely healthy for anything where you haven't answered.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Oh, they're already paying the money out, and they're certainly aware that he's in a nursing home and that I'm acting on his behalf regarding pensions etc: this is just their regular update. (The last one was six months ago). My main concern is that they don't distinguish between people who live at home and people who are in permanent care. My father's already been medically assessed as 'unable to live alone' so I'm surprised that there isn't a different set of benefits, with attendant forms, for him.

I've done pretty much what you suggested -- filled out all the boxes as well as I could, and given the nursing manager's name and number, and explained that I don't see my father often enough to know all the details. As it's a periodic enquiry I hope this will be enough (and if not, they're not backward about ringing me and checking things!)

Many thanks for the offer of help! I do wonder how the confused, bereaved, or less literate manage these things.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

The regular updates are because many people's conditions do improve, even sometimes when the doctor has said there's no hope of that. I'm not quite sure why we're asking for the full details again.

The law regarding nursing and residential care remains a mess extremely complex; the short answer is that some things remain the same and some things are quite different for people in permanent care. The reason there's not a whole different system is that successive attempts to sort out a sensible approach haven't worked, eg because nobody can agree on what the right solution is.

We have various visitors, call centres, outreach and so on to help the confused, bereaved and less literate. The confused, bereaved and less literate are more likely to use our services than the population as a whole is. When I worked on a DSS counter, helping people with forms was a large part of our job; so much so that whenever people outline a brave new world for me in which DWP *doesn't* spend a lot of time helping people fill in forms, I tend to be really, really skeptical. I am, obviously, not speaking for the Department here.