Hooray for Government Departments.

What you may ask is the title of this posting got to do with Franks Dermatomyositis, the answer is of course "Not a lot". Today has been relatively  uneventful apart from one letter which I will come to in a minute. the sun has all but disappeared from Portsmouth and the rain has set in with a fairly gusty wind, which in all honesty suits me as it makes breathing so much easier, so today is a good day.

However dealing with an illness/condition is not always about symptoms, set backs and hospital visits, other factors come into play as you try to cope with what is happening to your body and your life, and one such event was my dealings over the past week with our Department of Works and Pensions (D.W.P.)

After being returned home from hospital under a care plan 7 weeks ago (has it only been that long), I decided after reading various literature that I would apply for Attendance Allowance as I needed help with various items throughout the day and night so duly sent of and received the forms back in the post.
After much head scratching and checking by Gervase the forms were completed and returned to D.W. P and now the fun begins.

On the 25th June I received a letter stating that my claim had been received on the 14th of june and was being considered. On the 28th June I received a letter to say that I am entitled to Attendance Allowance. along with the letter was a leaflet saying that I may be entitled to extra pension credit as I am now entitled to Attendance Allowance.

When checking my bank account on Sat 2nd July I notice that the pension credit for this week had not been paid in ( Peculiar I thought, perhaps it is to do with the AA) anyway on Monday 4th July I phone DWP and ask about why my pension credit was not paid this week, the chap on the end of the phone could find no reason why it was not paid and said that he would email the relevant dept and it would be paid within 5 working day,s but said it was not to do with the claim for AA as that was a different issue.

However  on tuesday 5th July I receive a letter from D.W.P to tell me that I may be entitled to extra pension credit due to receiving AA and would I fill in enclosed forms and return, so filled in forms and Pauline posted them back on the same day.  Now Today. I receive a letter from D.W.P giving details of my Pension Credit Now the Irony is that My pension credit stays the same (as I get a Pension Savings Credit NOT a Guaranteed pension credit,) the other thing is that the letter is identical in every word apart from the date to the one I received from them on the 19th January when this years pension was announced. so what do we learn from this little episode, probably the one thing that comes to mind is that there is very little communication between government departments, surly in this day and age technology allows for  almost instant updating so one can only assume that human error is a major concern. the other factor that comes to mind is that these departments are spread around the country, I dealt with a chap in scotland for the Pension from Cardiff and the AA from Blackpool, Get it sorted Cameron, here is where a lot of money is wasted, so 5 letters 1 phone call and a few hours work to tell me what I knew in January.
Still it made the week a bit more exciting. Have a good day people.

So there you are folks it is not all about the Condition, other factors come into play as well