Eviction notice served

beccabooboo

I also think it may be worth taking note of the Disability Discrimination Act, are The Council discriminating against you when clearly a mental health problem of any kind, including depression could be construed as a disability?

The more I read, the more angry I am getting!!!!!

x

Gforce_2

mumoftwins wrote: »

But NowMedical haven't seen the psycholgists report yet

Then they haven't completed their assessment!


Have a look at this site, it makes for very interesting reading.

http://www.niknicol.co.uk/html/nowmedical.html

Gforce_2

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/aug/29/guardiansocietysupplement.communities
This is an article from The Guardian last year about a court case involving a decision made by now medical. I've highlighted my favourite bits. I know that Now Medical now use a psychiatrist but I think the second highlighted paragraph is still relevant.


Overturning both decisions, the appeal court said that Birmingham had not considered all available medical evidence and that the handling of the case displayed "a want of fair-mindedness". It warned that "care has to be taken by local authorities not to appear to be using professional medical advisers simply to provide reasons for a refusal".
Specifically, the court pointed out that Keen was not a psychiatrist and that "a local authority weighing his comments against the report of a qualified psychiatrist must not fall into the trap of thinking that it is comparing like with ". It commented also on the fact that Keen had not seen Sabrie Shala: "[Without] an examination of the patient, his advice cannot itself ordinarily constitute expert evidence of the applicant's condition." While organising an examination might be impractical in such circumstances, the ruling acknowledged, the medical adviser could arrange to speak to the applicant's doctors. The judgment is being seen as of great significance in housing law.

teeni

Hi Gforce

I posted this on here close to the beginning of this thread,the Shala v birmingham case is very important in these cases I believe that the now medical report in mots case which advised futher investigation would probably not have said that if it wasn't for that case. They did have thier fingers burned (specifically Dr Keen)

As you know the l/a does not have to agree with info provided by either now medical of in fact by mots doctors at the review but it does have to show it has considered it and explain why it is not accepting it ( if that is the case) and an adverse decision is reached.

Imho if they totally disregard evidence from mot's specialist it would be unreasonable enough ( wednesbury unreasonable) to take this matter to county court for a s204 appeal.

I really hope it doesn't come to that. this has gone on long enough for the whole family and they deserve some good luck.

Gforce_2

teeni wrote: »

Hi Gforce

I posted this on here close to the beginning of this thread,the Shala v birmingham case is very important in these cases I believe that the now medical report in mots case which advised futher investigation would probably not have said that if it wasn't for that case. They did have thier fingers burned (specifically Dr Keen)

As you know the l/a does not have to agree with info provided by either now medical of in fact by mots doctors at the review but it does have to show it has considered it and explain why it is not accepting it ( if that is the case) and an adverse decision is reached.

Imho if they totally disregard evidence from mot's specialist it would be unreasonable enough ( wednesbury unreasonable) to take this matter to county court for a s204 appeal.

I really hope it doesn't come to that. this has gone on long enough for the whole family and they deserve some good luck.

oops sorry teeni, I never noticed:o

mumoftwins

Wol2 wrote: »

Hi There All

Only discovered this thread a couple of days ago for reasons that will become apparent. However i can really relate to everything MOT has and still is going through and hope this post may be of use.

I have been reading about the NOW MEdical report and Council email and it is absolutely obvious to me that they are clearly written by people who have no experience or idea of the type of situation and mental distress MOT has been in and how that may have affected her.

I agree with a lot of what has been said on the last few posts. I don;t know if it would help to have a case study from someone else but anyway here it is:

Those who know me would describe me as a highly intelligent, outward-going, extremely confident, capable, strong and successful career woman (age 46).

Last October, following the destruction of my house by floods in July, and relocation to rented accomodation in a completely new area some 60miles away, I had a "nervous breakdown" - and only emerged out of the black fog very recently.

The actual breakdown was caused by one particular event, but had been preceded by a sequence of events, starting just before the flood - any one of which would have meant I would have been able to cope at a reasonable level without shutting down as completely as I did. The important point was that I found myself without any anchor in a short space of time - house, partner, family and a close friend all disappeared and my employment contract was due to end in January 08.

For the whole of November and December I found that I couldn;t concentrate for any period of time and would get distracted very easily halfway through the washing up or the hoovering. I had no short term memory, couldn;t remember what day it was and even what I had been doing the previous three hours. I would wake up in the morning in floods of tears. I felt emotionally drained all the time. I would walk around the house for long periods of the day and not actually do anything. Anything I did do took much more time than normal. Even now I still can't recall much about that time - but I know I still functioned at some level. I know I made it to the supermarket twice a week, I even went out a few times with friends for a meal. I did go into work part-time in december (Work have been fantastic about all of this) I wrote emails to my friends. I would tidy up the house once or twice a week. I rang the Samaritans regularly just to have someone to talk to after 10pm and help prevent the downward spirals.

But most importantly I focused what little capability and concentration I had on ensuring I managed to feed myself and my guinea pigs each day and going to see a wonderful therapist twice a week. However there was absolutely no way I could bring myself to concentrate on personal financial matters such as preparing the flood inventory for the insurance claim, dealing with the tender specification for the house restoration works, filling in my tax return or anything else. I just couldn't deal with it mentally. (Luckily the insurance company are paying my rent direct so I didn;t need to worry about that - but sometimes it took days or even weeks to try and sort myself out enough to be able to pay a gas bill)



The points I would like to pick up on are:

a) Fact that GP didn;t refer = no acute need: Many GP's have no real skill or idea ascertaining just how serious your condition is. They only see you present for 5 minutes - at a time when you are obviously wanting them to see you as strong and able to cope with the situation and also because, when you're in the thick of it, you actually don't realise how seriously you are struggling and how much you need professional help. They do not ask pertinent questions about your daily routine. All they ask is whether you feel suicidal - whose going to admit to that! They rely on you to tell them what symptoms are concerning you - which of course you won't or can't. Hence you won't get referred. Only a trained psychologist or someone experienced with mental health issues can really recognise and ascertain the seriousness of your condition and how it is impacting you daily life and as you won;t get referred to them by the GP, you carry on coping as best you can. I am lucky -I was able to find and pay for a good therapist having elected not to run the gauntlet of the NHS referral system which in any case is so overloaded.


b) Evidence of neglect of children required to support MOT's claims about mental state - Even though you are in this state, you ensure you focus your available energy on the welfare of your dependents (be they guinea pigs in my case or children). It's part of your survival instinct. It doesn't mean it's not an effort - but it's a question of priorities and they are highest on the list (often above yourself)


c) Outwardly appears capable: Yes, of course you do. It wasn't until I got out of the fog on 28th December that I looked back and realise just how seriously incapacitated I had been - yet apparently the people I met back then(work/friends) state now that they had no idea just how serious my condition was - because I always made sure I was dressed smartly, could be seen by them to be functioning on some level, delivered work in short bursts. The only outward sign was the massive weight loss. But I also left a lot of stuff, especially anything relating to me personally or my personal financial situation, not done - In short, when I had to be seen by other people I put on a great act of being able to cope, doing the things that were important to them. When you have to interface with other people who are potentially standing in judgement on you, you save your remaining energy and effort for those moments

d) Ability to organise - yes - you live one day at a time, you have good days and bad days, so sometimes you manage to organise that day effectively. But you can;t think about tomorrow and certainly not plan something that might need to be done a week or a month ahead,unless it's a meeting with someone (as opposed to administrative tasks such as filling in forms/paying bills/paperwork by a deadline). Even though I;d organise things to do at the start of each day, half of them wouldn't get done - and that didn't mean they went forward to the next day - either I forgot them, something else was more improtant the next day or they were dropped because they made me feel too anxious and stressed. I started from scratch each day. I lost the ability to plan and deliver any administrative tasks/chores that were required more than a day in advance. And let's not forget, I lost the ability to recall what I was doing 3 hours before and I didn't even know what day it was.


I'm sure there's more I could add to counteract any other statements in any of the papers MOT has but I need to stop now. I hope if nothing else, that this post will strengthen MOT's determination not to take heed of these people trying to dismiss her feelings and deny what has happened to her because, (lucky for them) they've never had to go through it. This type of mental distress is not something I would wish on anyone.

Good luck MOT, IT and the twins. I will be thinking of you and if you need any extra info please PM me.

Best wishes

Wol2

I don't know how to thank you Wol2 as you have expressed exactly how I feel and how I am reacting too.

mumoftwins

Gforce, Teeni and Beccabooboo - thank you for your knowledgeable posts. I shall print them off for I-T to consider for the appeal and will ensure that my solictor is aware of these which I'm sure she will be.

teeni

she will be aware os shala v birmingham case mot, anyone working in the homeless law field would be aware of this case it was ground breaking in homeless challenges when it was made last year.

mumoftwins

Teeni - would you mind explaining what Wednesbury unreasonable is please?

teeni

it is when a decison is so unreasonable that no other person would have reached the same decision based on the same facts.

It is a legitimate legal reason to request a s204 appeal at county court if review fails.

If this happens you r solicitor will advise you on whether you ahev a case to fight and whether it is worth applying for legal aid to cover costs. You have to have full legal cert to cover costs of applying to the court for permission to appeal and this will only be granted if you have a reasoonable case.

I think I have mentioned before that an appeal to court is only available on a point of law and not because you have disagreed with the decision. It is a much more stringent test.

sorry I know you didn't ask all that but i got carried away ( please dont say i probably should be)