Wednesday 7 March 2012

The Cold Hand of Sheer Terror

I went to the Outside today! For fun! To do something nice!

I can't remember the last time that happened. Seriously, I've forgotten.

I went for a lovely lunch with the lovely @bunnyrabble and chatted in a lovely "Cameron's a knobber" kind of way.

My mood driving home was bubbly, delight at a little freedom mixed with a teeny bit of pride that I managed to do a nice thing.

Home with the boys, flumping in a cuddle, I snuck a little look at twitter and found this : http://www.dailyveil.co.uk/news/article-2109942/Patients-failed-NHS-visit-A-E-100-times-year-shows-shock-report.html

And my heart nearly stopped. My blood ran cold. I literally sat and stared. You know those moments you totally expect but hope will never come?

I've heard about "Personal Budgets" in the NHS and wondered - what if they run out?

I've worried about GP commissioning - what if I need expensive surgery or treatment just before the new financial year?

I've worried about privatisation of the NHS - who but the NHS would treat someone like me?

And today, Tory MP and member of the Commons Health Select Committee (!!!), Chris Skidmore said that research into so-called ‘super-users’ of the NHS – people with chronic conditions who keep readmitting themselves to hospital – has uncovered "the full scale of the problem."

What problem is this?

Ahhh, yes, I am the problem. If £107 a week is considered WAY more than I'm worth in disgusting, selfish state income, just imagine what people like Mr Skidmore might think about the £24,000 per year the NHS spends on my chemo shots! Or the 10s of thousands each of my operations has cost. Of the endless in-patient stays costing that good old fella - the hardworking taxpayer - £500 per day.

Skidmore goes on to say "the figures showed the NHS is failing to tackle problems such  as obesity, diabetes, substance abuse and alcoholism." He said: ‘These figures demonstrate clearly the scale  to which NHS care is being dominated by super-users, usually those with long-term chronic conditions and those involved with substance misuse.

Ahhhh, here we go again. Us "Chronics", the dregs of society, de-classified as "disabled" written out of state support, abandoned and reviled now thrown in the NHS drunk-tank with the Friday night scallies.

Is this the start of a new rhetoric? After all, this is exactly how the ground was prepared for ESA, refusing DLA and cutting social care. This is how we ensured the public wouldn't care even a tiny bit when the sick and disabled were thrown on the scrapheap. Just lump 'em in with the feckless, the unfortunate, the irresponsible, the unwashed, the users, the cheats or the drunks.

Obviously, someone decided alcoholism or substance abuse weren't "real conditions" ages ago and focus groups and think tanks know very well the public will get out the pitchforks at the mere mention of such "types". Chuck any other group into that mix and you can almost guarantee a lack of sympathy.

And the line that really made me scared : "'We must begin to look closer at who exactly is using the NHS rather than allowing its revolving door to continue turning.’

Firstly Mr Skidmore, it's "more closely" and secondly, I don't doubt it for a second. I have expected it from your cruel Government for some time

Well Mr Skidmore, should you ensure that "revolving door" stops turning for people like me, I will die. Simple as that. If you take away my income, I might find kind hearted people to ensure that I can eat, but if you shut that "revolving door" I will die.

There's a word for that Skids. It's a word people don't like. An emotive word. A word that sends a chill down spines, that evokes our very worst human failures through history. A word that conjures dead babies and sinister social engineering.

The word is eugenics.


Taking the wrong path once, (ESA) might be forgiveable, taking it twice might be arrogant (DLA) taking it three times (Denying NHS care) is fascist Mr Skidmore.

Be very, very careful Skiddy Mc-Skids. Unless you are prepared to answer the question - "Who deserves to live"


Image courtesy of @B4dAlbert

74 comments:

  1. Yes. Atlas Shrugged and the New World Order reigned supreme.

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  2. The conflation of chronically ill people with "substance misusers" is very concerning.

    However, the "revolving door" thing could be turned around to our point of view. If more people with chronic illnesses got better care, if we didn't go back out of the door in the first place (as it were), we wouldn't need to go back in the revolving door. If problems didn't worsen to the point of crisis, we wouldn't need emergency care. If someone took more notice of my migraines and actually helped me understand and manage them, I wouldn't have been to A&E 3-4 times with what turned out to be migraines.

    So sure, let's stop the revolving door - by keeping people on the inside of it, not the outside.

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    1. Last time I asked for strong pain killers I could take internal for migraine as keep anything down whilst being in cripling pain, GP said no. The following week had serious migaine, call to out of hours GP were very difficult and suggested going to A and E just to get injection of pain relief, would have meant ambulance as coulnt move with the pain. In the end did get an out of hours GP to give me injection and internal drugs for next time. If GP are concerened with cost re drugs, less money for home visits and when we do go to hosptial we just counted as revolving door pains in the back side. Everyone wants us to be someone elses problem!!

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    2. I do agree actually Sam, I typed in anger in no mood to add balance.

      Thanks for being a voice of reason.

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    3. To the posters who suffer with migraine

      I am a suffer of migraine, between two, and on occasion five, a week. I would not cope without my medication. So thought I should let you know what I take which for me is effective within forty minutes.

      I take 100 mg of Diclofenac as a suppository, though you can get pills I have never taken them so not sure if they are as effective.

      Also a dose of Co Dydramol and one 1 mg lorazepam, which is a tranquilizer , taken together is effective within forty minutes to an hour, though if they are taken too often they do not work as well.

      I usually take Diclofenac

      You would of course have to see your doctor as all the above are only available on prescription and may interact with other medication you may be taking.

      I thought I would pass on this information as I know only too well how awful it is to suffer for hours and hours with migraine and how difficult it is to find an effective treatment.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Finally, they are admitting what we have suspected for so long. Eugenics. Would I want to be the person who decides who gets to live or who is left to die.... not fucking likely.
    We are supposed to be what's called a civilised country!! God help us all.
    What next? blue eyed blonde haired people are the chosen ones.

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  5. Just found your blog. It is really refreshing to read someone who is being so directly affected by these issues write so eloquently about them.

    I work in domestic abuse service provision and have watched as so many women have had their E.S.A. stopped despite support letters from their GP's, from us at Women's Aid, and even sometimes from hospital consultants.

    I have accompanied them to distressing and humiliating 'medicals' conducted by staff that are not even doctors and seen them pronounced fit to work, when it is abundantly clear to anyone who spends any amount of time with them that they are not.

    A specific result of these measures is that for people who are (mostly temporarily) unfit to work due to current mental health issues, their condition is simply made worse by all the stress and anxiety, therefore further prolonging their recovery.

    It's disgusting and it makes me so angry. It smacks of bullying to me. Bullying of some of societies most vulnerable people. Because they can. If the government are so desperate to save money, why not go after all these tax evading super-rich? They steal thousands upon millions from our economy every year.

    Anyway, thank you for your blog. It's an important one I think.

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    1. Thanks for your perspective on this, that's very interesting. I think the answer to your question is "because they don't feel like it". This really is all a game to them. I think they're totally divorced from reality, and in a far from benign way. The fact that creeps like this can end up holding power on a local level, let alone a national one, shows our electoral system to be unfit for purpose.

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    2. Thanks for commenting Gappy.

      It is those with learning difficulties, addiction issues of MH conditions that keep me writing most of all.

      I can't do much but I can type and I can think. I'm desperately aware that many I write "for" can't even do that.

      To further stamp on those whom life has stamped on very hard already makes my red mist descend.

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  6. Just when I think it can't get worse, it does. My mother is a 'revolving door' patient. When we last did her DLA form she has 9 different consultants for 13 different conditions. That's now increased by one each, because she's now on warfarin for life. She usually has a hospital admission about once a year thanks to superb outpatient treatment by Papworth Hospital, but we wind up in A&E probably 3-4 times a year for various things. That could be a risk of a broken bone (she has advanced osteoporosis and can literally break a rib by bending over) or a skin flap that opens up and needs proper care or she'll lose thickness of skin (she's on steroids and warfarin, a combination that leads to extremely fragile skin and excessive bleeding, and you can't get an appointment with a nurse when something like that happens at 9pm when she's loading the dishwasher!). Occasionally there's other things - like, you know, suspected pulmonary emboli, lung problems that can't wait until Monday morning, etc, etc.

    So she's a revolving door patient, I guess. Does that mean she shouldn't get treatment? Without A&E she wouldn't be here anymore, frankly.

    My grandad's also going to become a revolving door patient, I suspect. He has angina and blood pressure problems, and my grandmother has been told to call an ambulance if the symptoms aren't relieved by medication. Clearly he too should just shuffle off and die, despite a lifetime of paying in to the system!

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  7. "Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends."

    But it's alright, as long as a bit more money ends up in Skidmore's friends' nasssssty little corporate pocketses.

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  8. I just wrote this on facebook...it seems to fit here too...

    In the slow process of getting dressed...I allowed myself the luxury of 4 days in my dressing gown. I have to go shopping, almost run out of dog food & coffee. Physically I am probably just about capable of a small shop, psychologically I am building myself up for it...weighing up the options...tomorrow is ENT...I have to do it today. The need to is both an incentive and a pressure...payback can be a biatch.

    I know I couldn't possibly work yet, I wish I could. At the moment still i would need help that isn't available, sigh! No wonder i get down about it at times but that just makes me feel worse and affects all my symptoms that then prevent me moving forwards. It is a slow torture the system puts us under when we are ill and less able to defend ourselves. I saw a story today of a young pregnant woman left destitute by the DWP flung herself, her baby and her unborn baby off a building. I can understand why she did, bless her. I have had many moments where death seemed more enticing than carrying on facing all this harshness as my body refused to breathe or was racked with pain or fatigue so debilitating and weakening I haven't been able to feed myself. I am not in a phase like that at the moment. I am always at risk of sliding back round to that phase again. I have been eating better for a few weeks. I can't afford to slide back now. I would get through it again, somehow, going through it many times has given me that knowledge. It is the moments of despair where all that knowledge is clouded by fear we are most vulnerable to.

    It is a sad and disgusting phase of British And worldwide history we are living through. I hope more of us make it through than the masters of governments are planning for...



    It is such an insult that as an ill person it is considered that I need to be incentivised to make me go back to work and that I wouldn't bother because I can get benefits. That used to get to me a lot more than it does now. It is the way they make out they are looking after the genuine ones as they make it harder for them and in doing so more often than not exacerbate symptoms and push people to the edge. Fear is a very powerful weapon, it can be used as a form of torture all by itself, it can cause sleeplessness. Sleep deprivation is a form of psychological torture and warfare. It plays with feelings of inadequacy for being unable to do all the essential things for self care even without working on top of that, full time. I know I couldn't do half a day a week at the moment. Every day I have to keep choosing not to feel scared while facing a scary future. I have to keep appreciating what I currently have, no matter what I lack in that moment. Sometimes that is easier than other times.

    Again I think of what Gandhi said...

    "When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it always."

    The truth will continue to come out, it will spread and be known, if not understood. I hope we do it sooner rather than later as the human costs become more obvious, no matter how they try to hide the truth.

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    1. Lainey, as ever you make me cry, you make the hairs on my neck stand up.

      That Gandhi quote comes to me often. Corruption and wrong become rotten. Always, in the end.

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    2. now I am crying and smiling...I have had two tough days a shopping trip with bits of help...oddly the friend I WAS GOING TO SEE TO UNWIND BEFORE TRIP HOME TO PUT IT AWAY was in shopping just as i was finishing. The staff were helpful, my friend was taken aback at how good they were and the smiles and hello's and goodbye's i got. I have built up support in there by talking about anxieties, some difficulties, niff naff and trivia as well, asking for help and being treated really well. I go out of my way to go to that shop because of the staff...kind of shamed to say a tesco, giggles...the huge store in my town is too overwhelming for me mostly and I have the friends i can visit in the next one. It was my 3rd or 4th unaccompanied outing since I was in hospital in November. I was helped with putting it through the till and packing and my friend put it in the car for me, it was a bonus as one less spoon or two was used.

      Today i went to ent and my ears were clear for the first time since May last year I am ear infection/thrush/eczema free, slight swelling in the left ear but no debris, that is a luxury, my balance is coming back better too. They will call me back for a follow up in 4 months or if I get any more problems i can call sooner. It was the last in the 4 month phase of those once or twice weekly hospital visits. Maybe i can start recovering a bit now and who knows how much better i can get, no more warfarin or nasty painful self injecting heparin/or the oily more stingy substitute, no more fumes, lots more stress to come but a slightly better health to deal with it from, at least for now. I may slump tomorrow, if I don't I am planning to consider going out in town with my walker with a seat thing my mum bought me but i have been too ill to try out...and to be honest a bit scared of doing, wheelchair in hospital is one thing. I haven't been down town for months...I have been wanting to go to one shop since August...so if I can't make it or face the newness of using an aid I will be patient with myself and aim to rest till I can...smiles and hugs xxx

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    3. ps please excuse typing I'm having a few slight keyboard coordination problems and didn't notice I hit cap lock and keep missing the shift or it is sticking, not quite sure...I am flagging now but not as badly as I have got used to again...

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    4. Indeed this is the very reason as to why most governments across the world treat their people badly remember communism and conservatism are the same both only look out for their class and reject and punish everyone else both believe in slavery

      The conservatives are much cleverer thou as they knew the public wouldn't support communism so they toned down there thoughts on communism
      but given a chance they would love to smash to pieces those at the bottom not only of this country but all countries hence you have a strong groups of terrorists across the world to keep the conservatives and the communists at bay otherwise the conservatives along with America would dominate the whole world


      i have met many mp's in my time and the only thing they have ever stood out as and that is being dishonest and to tell the public lies

      I cant ever recall a honest mp in mind or thought some were close but none could much myself in honesty or transparency and i dont believe in fact I'm certain that there will never be a decent politician come about in the years ahead

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  9. Can see it ending up like being checked into the airport system, Those with private health care straight to first class check in,for all those 50% of beds hes wants to open up to private care. Those with minor problems who dont bother NHS much in behind. Then in the big queue thats moving slowly the rest of us who "drain the system".

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  10. No you have got all wrong,all disabled/ chronically ill people complaining are just Trotskyists,SWP members,snobs or whatever fake scapegoat buzzword this Government will comeup with in the months to come.Or maybe they will just call you scum,nothing about this Government surprises me any more.

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  11. It's all ok - I distinctly remember Camoron stating on PMQ's that "the first point of call for disabled people is the NHS"

    What he didn't say is that there would be no NHS.


    This Government just gives me too many people to hate...

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  12. It certainly frightens me, as the Tory plan unfolds. Once the NHS is in the hands of the private health providers, "revolving doors" patients just won't be profitable! It's a simple cost benefit analysis any Tory would understand.We're at the softening up stage now and if nobody shouts too loud, they'll sneak in a bill saying they want to make NHS provision "fairer", or some such weasel words. Well spotted Sue.

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    1. SHOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTT! Loud enough ,lol?

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  13. This was caused by the financial situation we inherited said Gideon Osbourne while announcing that he wants to reduce the higher rate 50p tax.

    So the super rich are suffering paying 50p in the pound,so much so that it would be better if we die to give them Tax Cuts.

    This is not class warfare,its genocide.

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  14. This is all the MORE reason to keep DLA, stop pressurising people with the constant stress of ESA medicals and INVEST more in accesing carers, P.A.'s, services in the community. They are so thick they have no idea that what they have set in motion has INCREASED the need for hospital admissions and revolving door patients.

    Wasn't Cameron's son a revolving door patient? He told us enough times how many time she had to be rushed to Casulaty. Did the public complain, why should I spend my taxes on your son when you are so rich? NO. That's because we are civilised, compassioanlte human beings and this lot are psychopaths

    Disability Rights UK are doing a short survey on the treatment of diabled people by the press for the Leveson enquiry. ( Personally I disagree profoundly with their support for shutting the Remploy factories, as said on Channel 4 news, some disabled people can cope better in a safe environment) but hey, its a survey that's going to Leveson about the media. And we all HATE them.

    http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/leveson.htm

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  15. Mr skidmore is clearly yet another arrogant tory twat. He says "we must find out exactly who these people are." But he's already just told us its the obese, diabetics, the drunks and the druggies. If they haven't done the research on who the users are, he cannot possibly say this.

    I used to be a nurse. Didn't have many people being rushed in by ambulance just for being too fat. Diabetics are a medical emergency if they go into a coma. Diabetic care is dreadful as we heard only tonight. Some areas have musch higher rates of amputation than others - that's because they are not getting the monitoring they need in the community.
    Instead of always demonising druggies and alcoholics, why not stop and think? Why are so many people resorting to this? It is usually those with social, mental health problems who cannot cope. Despair at not being able to find a job. Despair there is no where to go for help. Psychiatric care is abominable and the waiting lists long. These people are human beings too. I am sick of Joe Public demonising those they deem " worthy" of help and Nurses now too "judge" all the time who they will treat with dignity and who they won't.(Basically no one these days)

    A moron could have warned them. Increasing GPs pay for fewer hours was madness. No on call means inevitably people are more likely to end up in A&E. It was eminently forseeable with an ounce of intelligence.

    Provide proper care in the community and make GPs do house calls and the numbers in A&E will tumble.

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  16. I have severe M.E. That gives me many problems which could see me needing an ambulance. Yet, I avoid it at all costs, if I possibly can. A hospital is the worst place for someone with M.E.
    Ignorant, untrained staff, bright lights, loud noise, no idea of the array of problems M.E. can cause, no idea on sensitivity to drugs or any knowledge of the severity of pain possible. My M.E. gives me a rare form of seizures so i hav ended up there. Yet can I get any help while at home to sort all these issues out? I rarely get to even see a GP as too ill to get there and they won't come out.

    Too many people with chronic conditions (not the ones Skidmore mentioned either) are just left to cope on their own until the situation becomes critical. Early intervention and investigation would solve many of these admissions. If GPs are "too busy" to do that now, what will it be like when they are trying to be accountants too?

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    1. Hi Anon,

      I'm in a similar situation as you with chronic M.E., with the addition of neurological 'M.S. type' symptoms including spasms, intermittent loss of feeling in legs and arms causing me to fall and drop things, along with neuropathic pain and chronic sensory problems.

      This week I've been dreadfully ill on top of all of this. My medication is apparently causing inflammation of my mouth, throat and further down. I felt so dreadfully ill that I couldn't go to bed. I know that sounds silly, but if I go to bed I don't sleep, I will just keep passing out, which is horrible. So I stayed up until 3.30am until the worst symptoms relieved a little.

      Since xmas I have had such dreadful physical symptoms, with my heart racing in response to the stress of it I suppose, that I have been on the verge of calling an ambulance many times, but I just daren't.

      This is the reason why. I've had no proper diagnosis despite being ill for 14 years now; they won't even give me a CFS diagnosis! Although, after the spasms started I saw a consultant and finally got the medicines that help (after 9 years of it), but they only help a little. With no real diagnosis hospital admission terrifies me because of what I've had to put up with in the past. Neuro Consultants who have humiliated me, Pain consultants who sent my doctor a letter basically saying things like 'she seems to think that she is a qualified classical and music technologist' (I have a good degree in it; since when did you have to prove that you have a degree during an appointment with a consultant?), that the spasms are a form of 'panic attack'. When I turned up at the pain clinic I'm sent to a psychologist! G.P.s who won't let me call an ambulance and who shout at me.

      I am 'old school'. I was brought up to respect doctors, and to use a respectful manner and speech at all times. I have never retaliated or said anything out of place to these professionals, other than to detail my symptoms. Fortunately, I changed G.P.s in the practice after the partner in my practice abused me again, and went to a G.P. there who actually witnessed my spasm, and although I don't yet have a formal diagnosis, I am now on two types of medication that help somewhat.

      Even though my G.P. is good now, because of all of the things people like Sue have noticed, like the subtle reference of them needing to target those with chronic conditions, I feel reticent about even seeing my G.P. even though I've suffered so badly since xmas.

      The fear is that if I admit myself to hospital, the totally untrue things written about me in my files could affect the attitude with regard to my care, so in the end, even when I've had a really bad spasm and NHS have said to call an ambulance, I haven't due to the fear of what might happen to me since in recent years, people with undiagnosed conditions have been sectioned for example if they won't admit they are not ill.

      It has come to something hasn't it when you are afraid to visit a G.P.? In the end I had to visit my lovely dentist, who diagnosed the problem straight away. She feels that a mixture of my medication and a lactose intolerance is causing some of the problems. Apparently, I can ask the doctor for a pill to take before a meal that will help, but again, because of all of the meds I take, and because of these sinister attitudes towards the chronically ill, I daren't ask her for any more!! It's incredulous!!

      I am generally a happy positive person despite this, and don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the NHS, but I am sick of living in fear of what might happen to me.

      Sorry again for ranting!

      Clarebelz

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    2. Clare I am HORRIFIED by your story. Sadly I have experienced similar. I have M.E and EDS but have had to fight for 14 years to get those diagnoses.

      I am always so sad to hear that these attitudes are so widespread. It's terrible.

      Anyway, I believe you and I know how much you suffer (in a way!). I just wanted to say that. Have you seen 'Voices from the shadow' by the way? Watching it might make you feel like you aren't alone.

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  17. I don't want to believe this blog, but my spidey senses are are tingling. Of course this is the next phase, it has to be the next phase. This past year my Doctor has been constantly reducing my meds. He took me off lyrica after three years of use. He told me the factory had stopped making the drug. I rang at locum in agony, and he told me my Doctor was a liar, and he prescribed me lyrica, and told me he would fax my Doctor, that I should never have been taken off them.

    And today, a nurse came to my house, I couldn't believe it. My doctor wouldn't pay a nurse to visit unless your head fell off. She said it was just a wee check up, blood pressure, etc.. But she asked so many questions. was I taking all my tablets? Did I sleep downstairs? I've never been asked these things by a nurse at home before. I believe there is going to be a major change in my treatment.

    She asked me could I lower the volume on my TV, and I couldn't find the remote, but the only thing I could think was, she thinks I am a scrounger because I have a big TV. Lol, strange thing to think, but I read so many comments about TV's lately.

    Anyway, I am an alcoholic. I am sober four years. Yes, I am a heavy user of the NHS, although I would do almost anything to avoid hospital. My medication must cost a lot. Outside of that, I get DLA at two high rates, and get my housing benefit paid. So, it must look on paper that I am a complete waste to society. I've already been taken off valium and a sleeping pill this year after 7 years of use, and I still have that awful depersonalization feeling. I jump every time a dog barks. Sometimes I cry in agony at just the sound of a water tap. I've had my codeine halved, and I know my lyrica will get taken. All this withdrawal is so painful, and everyone has told me I look 100x times worse off. I was given no reason.

    I read Sonia Poulton's Daily mail article yesterday, and she used that word FEAR. I live in fear, I have forgotten life, pleasure, and I am withdrawing further and further into myself, and deeper into depression. I'm guilty of illness, and I am guilty of disability, and I am actually feeling guilty.

    I KNOW that nurse's visit to my home today was not a friendly visit, it was a fact finding one to see how much care and medication should be taken from me. I am convinced.

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    1. my gp is trying same thing i take efexor 150 mg once aday for 18 yrs i have social anxiety and depression i went to my gp who at start when i was 16 i had a breakdown he helped me every way i needed since this scrounger thing well i hate to say it but he has turned into an evil git he has tried to take me off efexor not listened when i told him i was down enough to want to kill myself my family stoppped me cutting my wrists just in time he said what do you want me to do about this meaning i told him i wanted to kill myself i was stunned in every leaflet i was told if your so low you want to comit suicide dont go to some one like a gp for help well when he said that i just dont feel anything anymore not happy not sad just empty what is my life for i am ill but everyone has abandonded me i am here for my famly but how long can i be expected to be treated like this i am scared people think i am just trying to escape work do you know mixing with people terrify s me so damm much but i think look at me 17 years alone trapped its not a life people go to prison for less its solitary confinement and the government and people gps etc think i enjoy being alone i just dont get it anymore or how much i can take ill try to keep going for others like me but how much more can we all take ????????????

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  18. The reality is MPs like Skidmore are mere puppets - mouth pieces - who sit on Committees and spew out the 'party line'. Within his words I can hear the distant theory of Talcott Parsons and catch a glimpse of ghostly academics in the pay of Unum peddling their 'bloodynonsense' model of illness and impairment.

    Much work has been done to challenge inequality and social exclusion, unfortunately not enough has been done about the oppressive nature of medical theories and practices which share common ground with social policies which reinforce socially restrictive practices.

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    1. Some people will already know this, but for those who don't, please look at this reference which describes how Lord Freud distributed copies in the House of Lords on Jan 17th of "Models of Sickness and Disability" by Waddell and Aylward. This pretty well underpins the rationale behind abolishment of DLA, and the way the government is using the biopsychosocial model of illness as an excuse to savagely cut benefits. Basically, if you're ill, you're thought to be "deviant"...

      The article also spells out what a totally useless investment banker Freud was, and that despite admitting that he knew "nothing about welfare at all" he was appointed by Labour's John Hutton to produce the report:
      "Reducing Dependency, Increasing Opportunity".
      The "Opportunity" to be house-bound? To not be able to eat properly? To lie in your own shit all day?

      http://www.investinme.org/Article-441%20UK%20Welfare%20Reforms.htm

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    2. When I read things like this (about the biopsychosocial model) I am so terrified, I can't process it. They have no idea. No idea.

      What I would give to be well. How hard I have tried to improve. It has gotten me nowhere. But no, according to people like Freud I'm staying ill to prove doctors wrong who say there is nothing wrong with me.

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  19. First, let me say to Sue and the numerous other campaingners what a brilliant task you all achieved by making the Responsible Reform Report; also known as The Spartacus Report; happen. The public reaction was unprecedented and has a very real roll in our battles to come because no one expected this kind of thing to be achieved.

    Not sure if you've had a chance to read some of my blog...

    This post explains some of what happened almost two years ago...

    http://babybear3333.blogspot.com/2012/02/me-as-i-am.html

    I've been placed in the WRAG group on the back of an ESA50 with no additional medical evidence obtained... Both my ESA and DLA are to reviewed in April... To say that I'm terrified would be a gross understatement...

    I've got two appointments next week with consultants to review my progress, bearing in mind I'm supposed to dead five times over lol...

    My only hopes now are that ATOS and the DWP will bother to get additional information from my consultants, district nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapist, social worker, support worker, GP etc...

    I have no idea what will happen if my benefits are stopped, especially as my housing benefit relies sole;y on the fact that I'm going to be on ESA next month... My house has already been radically adapted at great expense to the Welsh Assembly. My rent is only £79 per week...

    ReplyDelete
  20. sue spot on, i did blog re eugenics last week or so. as one of the 'hunted' yes i mean sick and disabled this evil lot are worse than 'maggot thatcher' as a fellow sparticii quoted is one step too far. anyone who voted this lot in or who stand in denial of the dictatorship we have now has blood on their hands for those who already passed, through those reforms they chose to ignored our plight on so many levels.Eugenics is only word for it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. We can afford to treat aids patients from all around the world but can't look after our own. Doesn't make sense to me.

    ReplyDelete
  22. If someone causes an accident that harms me, could I claim off their "personal budget" ? Then they have an accident caused by someone else and they claim off the third party in their case ?

    Didn't Cameron say he wanted an end to the "compensation culture" ?
    Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  23. o==[]::::::::::::::::> Nos morituri te salutant (We who are about to die salute you)

    ReplyDelete
  24. David Cameron son costs were around £2000 per week and the care he got was the best

    sue have a look at this clip and let me know what you think it's about David Cameron and his late sons life and the shaping of David Cameron's mind told by Chancellor George Osborne ?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7910961.stm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why do I only see professionally taken and posed photographs at a time like that?

      Delete
  25. How many of the 'super users' who keen going back to doctors are those with undiagnosed, unrecognised or untreated cronic conditions. Or how many have the early signs of diseases that are simply not picked up as symptoms worsen.

    People with ME are generally ignored by doctors. Have their symptoms dismissed. If you have ME and walked into A&E with a broken arm lots of doctors would suggest a physiatrist and you are just imagining the broken arm.

    ReplyDelete
  26. You know what gets me is that its all a joined up thinking policy.Persecute those who are sick /disabled to the point of either ending any claim ,or forced labour or even worse suicide.At the same time sell of the nhs and now drip feed the public in to the idea that you only have a limited claim on the new nhs too .After that you are on your own.
    This really is the american model of care.SELL IT ALL SELL SELL SELL....sell the police ,sell the hospitals, sell anything we can get away with and then have the fkin cheek to moan that the salmon in the house of lords restaurant isnt good enough...have the fkin cheek to whinge on about the price of alcohol should be so much a unit to the binge drinking plebs that put us in here while drinking and eating in the bars and reatuarants of the commons that WE subsidise..or in other words PAY FOR.....BLOODY ROBBING BASTARDS...LISTEN DAVE WE KNOW there is no big society and even the twat that coined the phrase has buggered off to america.
    Now we have a govt ie YOU DAVE ...who preach gaining employment and are now actually making sick/disabled people unemployed.
    You could not make this up if you tried.Remploy is being ripped apart and sick/disabled people thrown to the wolves and yet they get away with giving muckdonalds and other companies AND BLOODY charitys millions of pounds to partake
    in this farcical workfare rubbish.10 million given to muckdickheads alone ,not to mention the millions you have given to your mate EMMA... so why could we not have given OUR MONEY to remploy then.
    WHY are charitys not up in arms about all this instead of taking the govt shilling which ironically is OUR shilling so we are feeding the hand that bites.
    WHY and HOW do they keep getting away with this.....WE really do need to get in to london and bring the bloody place to a standstill in a big way.HAVE WE NOT had enough yet to make us see that we have to do so.AND now we have some idiot suggesting we carry id cards yet if you look on his website he urges people to tell him about any disablity hate incidents in his neck of the woods.Again you couldnt make this shit up.HAVE WE NOT HAD ENOUGHT YET.....

    ReplyDelete
  27. Skidmore on privatising the health service - as if some of it is not bad enough already - tried to complain against a GP lately?

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9093792/Labours-opposition-of-NHS-reforms-is-pure-obstructionism.html

    ReplyDelete
  28. The government is pressing ahead with plans that could see disabled people lose their benefits if they drop out of a work experience scheme, despite backing down on imposing such sanctions on young people.

    This week, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) bowed to pressure from campaigners and businesses and removed the threat of benefit sanctions for unemployed young people on jobseeker’​s allowance who drop out of a government work experience scheme.

    But DWP has confirmed to Disability News Service that no such changes will be made to a similar scheme created for disabled people found eligible for employment and support allowance (ESA) –​ the replacement for incapacity benefit –​ but capable of some “​work-related activity”​.

    DWP insists that the work-related activity group (WRAG) scheme is part of the Work Programme –​ which the young people’​s scheme is not –​ and that any work experience will only be carried out with the agreement of the disabled claimant, and would usually last for two to eight weeks.

    DWP has already admitted that there will be no upper limit to how long the WRAG work experience could last.

    It says the WRAG scheme is not “​workfare​”​ –​ being forced to work for your benefits –​ because participation will be voluntary and “​not coercive”​, although sanctions will be available for those who drop out halfway through for no reason.

    Neil Coyle, director of policy and campaigns for Disability Rights UK, said his organisation opposed the use of sanctions for disabled people on work schemes.

    He said: “​There are better ways of getting disabled people into work than compelling them with the threat of losing benefits.

    “​It does seem remarkable that a young person might not be compelled to do something that a disabled person with less resources and greater disadvantage is compelled to undertake.”​

    A DWP spokeswoman said: “​The sanctions regime is an important part of the Work Programme, which is to help long-term unemployed people get back to work. What we are not doing is removing sanctions from the Work Programme.”​

    Asked if it was fair to impose sanctions on disabled people when those same sanctions had been dropped from the scheme for young people, she said: “​The Work Programme provides tailored support. The provider would be aware of their individual circumstances. They would not put them on things that would not suit them. It’​s not a prescriptive thing. It is tailored to individua​ls.”​

    Asked if DWP had concerns that it could be accused of discriminating against disabled people in the WRAG, she said: “​No.”​

    News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

    Comment (0)


    Like (1)

    08 Mar 2012 - News - by John Pring

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What kind of sick shit is this? Is no one going to challenge this, a Labour MP perhaps? Anyone? Someone with a bit of clout.

      Delete
    2. Well here's Labour's answer to the issue: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/10/labour-welfare-benefits-work-programme

      So...no, they're not. The Green Party is the only one with a clue but even they are more outspoken on environmental issues at the moment and not making much noise about supporting the Social Model

      Delete
  29. My eyes are bad so I cannot think of spending hours on a computer, I see what are called floaters in bright light(and I really have a lot)so I prefer to be indoors, I cannot stand for long nor sit for too long, I cannot walk far, If I think I am ok within a few minutes I am tired if I attempt to do a few tasks.

    If I have to go to the floor I have a hell of job getting up again.

    I have difficult dressing, even more problems attempting to do tasks such as cutting toenails etc...

    So what job could I do on a regular baises?

    And that's reasonably simple tasks so physical work is even more out of the question.

    At best I might be able to attempt part time work but I'd probably be phoning in saying that I am too ill to come in or I'd spend most of the remaining time trying to get well again so I can do it all again next week.

    This last month I have had difficyulty with bursitis which when you think you are ok suddenly you get an excrutiating pain that stops you doing something.

    And of course I am on very strong drugs for a rare form of kidney disease. There's more but that's quite a bit to be going on with...

    ReplyDelete
  30. didn't there used to be a disability discrimination act?

    ReplyDelete
  31. A bit OT, but how about this for an anthem?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDj0-VNvySM

    ReplyDelete
  32. This is certainly scary, for all of us who suffer with chronic illness, though the medications I need to lead anything resembling a normal life are relatively not that expensive, nevertheless the considerable fear that I have is that for one reason or another one day I may not have access to them . And with private medicine, even relatively cheap medication is charged at enormous prices in countries like America. I know the privatization of the NHS is not to that extent yet and the reforms involve the use of private medical providers to administer and provide treatment rather than a direct payment from patients. Nevertheless I fear it may be the first step on the road to an American system of health care.

    The thought that those of us with chronic conditions are thought of as a burden on the NHS is worrying as much as it is shocking. Surely that is what the NHS is there for, to care for people who are sick regardless of how they became sick, as in the case of alcoholism, binge drinking or drugs or the duration of their illnesses as is the case for many of us who post here. What will be the next gripe be sports injuries? Could be argued that rather like smoking, drugs and alcohol such injuries are self inflicted . The treatment of Smokers, drinkers, the overweight, has been questioned before and the government have much maligned this section of our society for a long time in order to poison public opinion.

    Adequate treatment for many conditions is often lacking, for example migraine mentioned earlier of which I suffer along with three other kinds of head pain, fibromyalgia and a variety of mental health conditions which have, never been that well treated. The thought of involvement in our NHS by the private sector whose priority by law is to put the profit of shareholders before anything else is scary to say the least. As is Cameron's determination to run rough shod over the majority of the electorate who oppose this reform. There is no way they can not know that the overwhelming majority do not want these reforms yet they continue to push their warped agenda. I find this very frightening , depressing. I wonder what will happen to us all. Every day there is some toxic rhetoric or other from a conservative MP.

    If anyone has not seen the video of Dame Joan Ruddock challenging Cameron concerning the welfare reforms, here is the link to Prime Minister's Questions: 7 March 2012.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceIDXWLZMiE

    If you can stomach Cameron's rhetoric that is. Quite frankly I can neither bear the sight of the man or hear his arrogant self righteous voice, though he has nothing to feel righteous or proud about in his welfare reforms as Dame Ruddock points out

    To skip to the relevant portion of the video move the slider until it reaches about 8.48


    Incidentally this follows Cameron taking an opportunity to push his NHS privatisation agenda in response to an MPs comments about cancer treatment in Wales.

    Also of interest following Dame Ruddock, after a question about drug control, is a question by Ed Milliband relating to a delivery driver who is the sole earner with three children who is loosing £60 in tax credits.

    All show Cameron at his finest pushing his corrupt warped policies.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I'm not know for hating people...its such a strong emotion. For our PM, I can happily make an exception.

    ReplyDelete
  34. The government are just going to increase the pressure on the sick and disabled until they stop claiming benefits

    They will have us all going through hoops year in year out until we die that's a fact

    I myself have been a victim of over 30 years by the DWP and all it's done to my health over that time is to make my illnesses worse but also to make me go down in the last 5 years with mental disorders

    I thought i could hold out and keep sane but with regret i have failed in the long never ending battles with the DWP over the 30 plus years time frame

    My doctors say i have done well to keep alive but the struggle to just even eat or drink is a daily nightmare

    I have to be very focused when i go out in case i just run in front of a car madness i know but when your mind is unbalanced anything can happen at any time which will be completely out of your control hence i don't go out that often but stay in that way i know that everyone is safe

    David Cameron will fall down at some point we have to believe in that just as we have seen in the middle east and north Africa

    The prime minister wont have necessarily blood on his hands but he sure will have death and we must all remember that and at in any future inquiry like The Leveson Inquiry that those that have suffered and have lived in fear come forward so that he can and his departments be tried for crimes against humanity

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you have it right there in your final paragraph Fourbanks:

      the government is taking the lead in killing disabled people is for our own good - otherwise we would be victim to abuse, harrassment, discrimination and oppression, all state sponsored of course, and supported by folk of different persuasions in the media and the community

      Delete
  35. I know that I am making broad brush strokes and there are differences but our PM and other Western leaders praise other countries when the populations rise up against their Governments but they hate it when it happens in their own and they do just as any other country and try and stifle free speech and unrest.

    The get out clause is to keep saying they are doing what they do for the "good of the country" But isn't that what all leaders try to claim. I'm sure the President of Syria and many others around the world are saying the same.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Apropos of anything or nothing...Have just received a letter from Chris Grayling, via our MP. More than 2x A4 pages spelling out why DLA is changing to PIP, why this all needs reforming as 'it was never anticipated that the benefit would go to so many people.'
    Waffle, waffle...'transparency..will continue to work with disabled people and their organisations..absolutely committed to supporting disabled people..these reforms are about building a new, more transparent,affordable and sustainable benefit, a benefit fit for the 21st century.'

    This was in response to a letter sent to our MP, just before the WRB went to the House of Lords for the last time. Why did I bother, what difference did it make? That pillar of society, Chris Grayling, has said that everything will be OK. What the hell have we been making a fuss about all these months for then?
    It is now happening again with the NHS Bill - this is a government which DOES NOT LISTEN TO WHAT THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ARE SAYING THEY ACTUALLY WANT.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Apologies for 'shouting'in previous post. The letter was received this morning, and i couldn't bear to read it for ages because i knew it would p*ss me off - and it did.

    If everything was as they said, if all was fair, if everyone had been consulted and their views properly taken into consideration, if PIP was a truly better way to deliver help to those who need it, why aren't we all delighted, why are we making such a fuss, why have we all fought so hard? Do we really have nothing better to do if this reform is so bloody wonderful??

    ReplyDelete
  38. what do you do when you have lost confidence in your surgery and don't want to go anymore but the only other surgery in town refuses to accept you because you went to the other surgery??

    the plc know all about it but are doing nothing about it. i now have no health care so how do i get my prescriptions and medical support?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. update

      the PTC have now said that the original surgery, the one i have complained about and do not wish to attend have said they 'would be happy to have me back'

      WTF are the PCT for????? WTF is the health service about - not patients????

      Delete
    2. It has been said by others before, that the NHS is now run for the benefit of the employees, and the patients are just a bl**dy inconvenience.

      Delete
  39. The NHS is in a mess as we all know, in spite of billions being put into it, but why should anyone who earns more than someone else pay tax at a different(higher) rate?
    Why, when money is tight,is it the patients who suffer?
    Why do front line staff get reduced, and managerial levels stay the same or increase? Less staff in the private sector usually means less managers.
    Why do "medical immigrants" get treated and then go back to their own countries without being charged?

    ReplyDelete
  40. It would be lovely if certain members of the Government could be sued or taken to court for some actions taken especially where its obvious false information was issued or held back.

    But we all know that with the vast machinery at its disposal of legal advice, they'd win or it would drag on for ages.

    Ironically, they cut back on legal aid but they use tax payers money if/when any case brought against them so they use our money to defend themselves. Equally if they lose a case, money paid out is again our own money.

    And now we have the Lib Dems telling Clegg they dislike the changes to the NHS and yet he still says he's going to vote for the bill.

    I think he knows that in the next election the Lib Dems are finished, he's finished and probably won't stand for re-election and he'll be off doing something else that no doubt will be lucrative.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The liberals are finished but the run to labour is also very much misguided as their is no place their for the sick or disabled

      I said on a earlier blog of Sue's that interpretation of policy's was a key speciality of mine and the bottom line is that the sick and disabled are finished that's the bottom line and only those that have the power and clout to fight their own corner will survive and to everyone else who knows ?

      but i tell you now and make no mistake about it that it's going to be for many very grim and few will live to make it. The continual form filling will lead to many not being able to continue your mental health will deteriorate and once that happens your finished of which like me theirs no going back

      I have lived this regime for many years nobody in this country knows more about this topic than me so lets be quite clear about that and i tell you now it's been very brutal at times and if you think that the sick and disabled will be able to take it like i have done over the years then you would be very wrong that's not going to happen those effected will die and like in other country of the world people just wont notice as it will all be covered up in the news

      Delete
  41. I used to think the 'black triangle' campaign with allusions to the camps and its Nazi era posters, 'this disbled person will cost you x reichmarks' was a bit over the top...

    now I decidely don't...

    ReplyDelete
  42. http://www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/2012/mar/12/large-charities-government-work-schemes?#post-area


    Slightly off topic, but still relevant, they will want a piece of the 'New NHS'

    great article in the article about charities, their culpability in not resisting the welfare reforms, endorsing workfare and being co-opted by govt's.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I wonder now if seeing as the beast that is ids is saying to people who are working 16 hours and can get working tax credit that they should now work for 24 hours before they qualify will these people start to realise that the govt is really against ANY form of benefit and will there be a backlash once this starts to bite.
    Most people do not realise or care about the sick/disabled being assualted (caused harm to) and discriminated against but maybe just maybe when the so called TAX payer is affected then we just might get the backlash we need...Any thoughts on this or indeed how we could help it along.
    I did see IDS on tv with andrew neil and he did allude to the govt could and might go much further than they have so they really dont care and i do think if they could they would have everyone on 2 quid an hour.SERFS in thier place dont you know....meanwhile you can just imagine em saying shall we adjourn to the Strangers Bar and partake of the taxpayer funded food and drink whilst we work out our expenses eh....only the ministers probably will have thier secretarys do that for em......

    ReplyDelete
  44. Well there was a programme on Radio 4 earlier Analysis showing Cameron fawning over some "Guru" for want of a better word and how this person virtually walks into No 10 and does what he wishes.

    And last week another showed advisors pushing the Big Society and knocking at people's doors and hoodwinking them to saying they'd be interested to become a volunteer and work for the cause...

    Idiots! It was similar to any cult that people are frightened about. People are so gullable.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Did anyone see this article today? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2114356/Waterslide-disability-benefits-cheat-caught-camera-luxury-south-France-holiday-forced-sell-house-pay-thousands.html

    The comments utterly disgust me. It is a frightening time to be disabled. It's unclear whether the woman in the article has a variable condition or genuinely was playing the system but to be honest, I don't care. To read those comments it seems people are baying for our blood.

    ReplyDelete
  46. The mail will always print this type of story
    If you claim DLA at the higher rate you need to bad all of the time and not some
    If you feel you can have a good day and do have a good day then you would be wise to claim the lower rates of DLA which gives you a little more freedom to go out and have a coffee for example

    I don't go in coffee shops as that's the place where the DWP staff hang out and the disabled parking bays
    If your genuine and on the lower rates only then you can have a coffee out but as i say i prefer not to so no suspicions can arise

    ReplyDelete
  47. i should add for clarity that the above applies only to those receiving the higher rate of care not the higher rate of mobility

    ReplyDelete
  48. It's a great article . We are inspired of it.Actually it's a very
    interesting topics.
    Republican presidential contest is causing some anxiety for

    supporters of Mitt Romney.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Incapacity tests reject 37% of claimants that's the new figure just released

    More than a third of incapacity benefit claimants being reassessed for the new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) have been deemed fit to work.

    Of the first 141,100 claimants reviewed since last April, 37% would no longer be paid the benefit, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17379564

    ReplyDelete