Another ESA query - please help

dollydazed

Hi all - I am at my wits end and really need your help. I've read hundreds of posts about the ESA process and I thought I was on top of it until this morning.

Basically, my husband has severe agoraphobia, anxiety and depression and has spent the last few years back and forth from psychiatrists to CPNs to psychologists to CBT therapists and the GP. The psychiatrist here has a 6 appointment cut-off - so if they haven't diagnosed by the 6th consultation you are referred back to the GP who then has to refer you to the psychiatric unit again. My husband has a complicated illness that involves extreme physical panic attakcs, hallucinations, collpase and unconsciousness and severe paranoia. I am just about the only person he can be around without suffering an "episode".

If the phone rings, he vomits, shakes, sweats and collapses. If the doorbell rings he has palpitations, hallucinations and slurred speech. When his ESA form came to fill in, he couldn't even look at it without his vision blurring and a panic attack that left him in a dead faint.

I explained all this in the form as well as telling them that he has been run over three times because when he is out in the street, he hallucinates and walks straight out into the road (he hasn't been out of the house in 6 months but prior to that the psychologist wanted him to try going out - with the above results!)

He can also get very aggressive when dealing with strangers and if he feels trapped or gets too scared, he will use physical means to get away from them. He's never assaulted anyone as such but he will roughly push people out of the way if he feels they are blocking an escape route etc and he hallucinates and sees people turning into snakes which he then feels the need to kill because they are trying to bite him.

He also self harms badly when forced to deal with people - he cuts, burns and punches himself as well as smashing his head off the wall.

I wrote all of this in his form but it has been completely ignored and this morning we got a letter telling us that he had to go to an ASOS interview! I haven't even told him the letter has arrived because of the effect it will have on him and there is nothing we can do until Monday. My worry is that it specifically states on the letter that ATOS can't discuss details of the case and can only deal with re-arranging the interview. I know that I will have to ask for a home visit interview but I'm terrified in case my husband does anything terrible when they come.

Is there anyone I can talk to to explain that they need to accept the personal risk to themselves if they interview him?

Are they likely to refuse a home interview because there is no way he can go to a centre?

rogerblack

Do you have any doctor that understands these issues, and s willing to confirm the above?

Have you arranged with the DWP to become his appointee?

dollydazed

Yes, our GP is brilliant and the only person who even tries to help. He said himself that getting access to mental health care where we live is an absolute nightmare as there is a specific target demographic that they get European funding for and they concentrate on that, ignoring everyone else (which is why our area has such a high suicide rate)

I am his registered apointee because he can't handle telephone calls/forms etc. Ironically my old job was actually working with social services and DWP on behalf of people with severe disabilities (in the days before ESA) - sadly that only makes me more despondent now because I know how dreadful the whole system is.

Parva

How did you end up becoming a couple? Very insensitive question I know but I'm sure it may be asked given the circumstances.

rogerblack

OK, for what it's worth, you seem to be in a good place from a perspective of being able to get an at home medical, or possibly avoiding it altogether.
Phone atos, and explain the above to them.
Explain you can't make the appointment, and why, and ask either for a home visit, explaining the dangers,
They will likely request a doctors letter.
Get the doctor to supply this, including (to be blunt) any increased risks that would be due to the assessment, such as self-harm, violence to others, or suicidal thoughts or actions.
If he is violent towards you, do not minimise this.
Once they read the letter, they may very well decide not to give him a medical.
He would seem to be able to be granted ESA, on the basis of his gp...'s report.
Are you also claiming DLA?

Cpt.Scarlet

Just to add to Roger's post, the ESA assessments are arranged by a central department, they have no direct access to the ESA50 and are not medically trained, there only responsibility is the booking of appointments.

So don't expect to be able to have a discussion on your husbands condition withthem

dollydazed

thanks everyone, I feel a little better today about it all.

Parva, it's a perfectly natural question to ask. We actually used to work together, when we were both well enough. My husband has suffered from mental health issues all his life - he was briefly sectioned at the age of 18 - but he managed to get on top of things and control his illness enough to work for 20 years. Then a few personal issues triggered a complete breakdown and he has ended up the way he is now.

He's still a wonderful, loving husband, he just can't cope with the "outside world" as it were.