- Messages
- 78
- Location
- Aberdeen, Scotland
Has anyone had one of these before?
After stressing bigtime about my upcoming DWP Assessment which was supposed to be today at 1 p.m. I finally phoned to cancel. I had already rearranged the date (because they always ask what times/dates you are no available and then promptly ignore what you write!) once so thought I would be told that would be it - I would be unable to rearrange again. However I was told they would send out a BF233 form and I could state my reasons for my cancellation and then would get to reschedule. I've never heard of this happening before.
My last assessment was in November 2015 and was scheduled for the Friday of the week my mother died. She died on the Tuesday that week in Inverness (100 miles from the Assessment Centre in Aberdeen) and my siblings and myself were spending the rest of that week dealing with all which had to be done - arranging the funeral, etc. which was to be the following Tuesday. When I phoned up the Health Assessment Advisory Service to explain what had happened, they refused to reschedule my appointment because I had already changed it once. I was forced to return to Aberdeen purely for that appointment, go through a horrible assessment, still dealing with grief, and I've never forgotten just how callous that was.
So I'm surprised at what was said today. I explained that my daughter, who was taking me to the assessment had had an emergency and was not now able to drive me there and because I'd had to take 5 mgs of Diazepam just to get me out the door, I wasn't able to drive myself. The 'emergency' wasn't strictly true - what happened is that her childcare fell through and she couldn't get anyone else to look after the kids at such short notice. They're 4 and 2 years old so it just wasn't feasible to expect them to sit through an assessment and there was no way I was going through it myself after my last experience.
I did ask for a home assessment next time as it would obviously save all this but was told only patients who were completely bedbound all the time would get one and that they were very strict on that.
So I just wondered if anyone has completed one of these forms and if, in fact, they are as compassionate as they sound - we all know the DWP is not known for their compassion and I'm worried this is another 'trap' so that they are seen to 'tick a box' but ultimately will still stop your benefit!
After stressing bigtime about my upcoming DWP Assessment which was supposed to be today at 1 p.m. I finally phoned to cancel. I had already rearranged the date (because they always ask what times/dates you are no available and then promptly ignore what you write!) once so thought I would be told that would be it - I would be unable to rearrange again. However I was told they would send out a BF233 form and I could state my reasons for my cancellation and then would get to reschedule. I've never heard of this happening before.
My last assessment was in November 2015 and was scheduled for the Friday of the week my mother died. She died on the Tuesday that week in Inverness (100 miles from the Assessment Centre in Aberdeen) and my siblings and myself were spending the rest of that week dealing with all which had to be done - arranging the funeral, etc. which was to be the following Tuesday. When I phoned up the Health Assessment Advisory Service to explain what had happened, they refused to reschedule my appointment because I had already changed it once. I was forced to return to Aberdeen purely for that appointment, go through a horrible assessment, still dealing with grief, and I've never forgotten just how callous that was.
So I'm surprised at what was said today. I explained that my daughter, who was taking me to the assessment had had an emergency and was not now able to drive me there and because I'd had to take 5 mgs of Diazepam just to get me out the door, I wasn't able to drive myself. The 'emergency' wasn't strictly true - what happened is that her childcare fell through and she couldn't get anyone else to look after the kids at such short notice. They're 4 and 2 years old so it just wasn't feasible to expect them to sit through an assessment and there was no way I was going through it myself after my last experience.
I did ask for a home assessment next time as it would obviously save all this but was told only patients who were completely bedbound all the time would get one and that they were very strict on that.
So I just wondered if anyone has completed one of these forms and if, in fact, they are as compassionate as they sound - we all know the DWP is not known for their compassion and I'm worried this is another 'trap' so that they are seen to 'tick a box' but ultimately will still stop your benefit!