Council housing and letter from GP

Anon8888

Hello,

We are currently on the housing waiting list for 4 bed (or 3bed with dining room) for over crowding. My husband has bad mental and baby is 6 weeks old now (husband has moved out of his single room so me and baby can go in there) our girls are in the other room.

Anyway his health is suffering he struggles on the sofa and he has  nowhere to go when everything gets too much. (He is on PIP higher rate and ESA support group). We asked the council to assess his housing need based on his MH condition deteriorating since baby is born due to sleeping on the sofa/nowhere to go when family stresses irritating him which are worse with the stress of a new baby.

Anyway,  sorry rambling! We rang GP today, 1) to see if they will give some sleeping tablets to help with current situ and 2) to see if they wi write a supporting letter to say how our current house is affecting his MH and that this will be improved if he has his own room again. They refused.both, said he is on max dose meds so cannot incease and lack of sleep with baby is normal and this should improve as baby grows! 🤣🤦‍♀️

Is it worth asking the GP to provide a letter and paying £30 for it or is there anyone else you can recommend we ask? 

I have also asked the council if we can just bid on 3 bedrooms as anything is better than 2 but because our 'entitlement' is 4 we are not allowed unless it has a dining room then 4 bedroom applicants are priority. currently we are position 7 out of 176 on a 3 bed.  But so desperate to move so i can try and help my husband feel slightly better. 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Anon8888

I forgot to mention housing has said he needs supporting letter from health professional. 

Savvy_Sue

Does he see any health professional other than the GP - CPN / psychiatrist / psychologist? If he does, worth approaching them.

Because I'm a bit confused: did the GP say they wouldn't write a letter, or that they'd only write a letter if you paid for it? Because I can't see any value in paying for a letter which says things will get better as the baby grows. 

Savvy_Sue

Also is it worth asking the GP if there is anything else they can suggest, eg referral to CPN if not already done. 

KxMx

It's only worth paying the £30 if what GP writes will be helpful.

From your other thread you are already Band B, a GP letter could be worth a try but is it realistic they will move you to Band A?

Have a look online at the councils banding criteria, Band A is usually reserved for the most serious, urgent cases.

I know you are both having a very tough time but in Council Housing terms it may not be enough.

poppy12345

I tend to agree with your GP regarding lack of sleep and a new baby. Sleep and a new baby doesn't really go together. It's a long time since my children were babies but at the time, i was so tired i could have slept stood up. It was like musical beds for a long time, not knowing which room to sleep in and what to do with my son because he was only a toddler.

Hopefully, the sleeping situation is just a temporary thing and when baby is a little older things will improve, at least with the sleeping.

Anon8888

It would give us another 'point' in band b so people with two housing needs in band b is higher fhan 1.

Thankyou for your suggestions. The sleep comment about the baby was wrong from dr just showed he didnt listen. 

My husband had his own room for his mental health problems pre baby and his lack of sleep is not from the baby as i deal with him on my own at night in our room. His lack of sleep is the uncomfortable sofa and going downhill due to not having his own space to escape to (due to anxiety he rarely leaves the housr so is largeky house bound).

He is nit under any MH services hes awaiting cbt and other than that they say there is nothing they can do. 

Savvy_Sue

As the OP's husband is already taking medication, adding non-prescribed sleeping tablets to the mix could be very dangerous, and if the pharmacy asked the right questions and the OP answered them honestly, they would probably not be sold. I'm not quoting the response I'm referring to as I hope it will be deleted, both for being unfriendly and for appearing to give (dodgy) medical advice. 

Anon8888

Im a midwife so dont worry we wont be accessing non prescription drugs without knowing they are safe. He has been given diazipam and lorazapam (later more for calming effect than sleeping) before so wondered about those mostly. 

I am not sure why you had to be a bit rude in your comment, i dont necessarily want free meds 🤔 we need a council property rather than private rent due to me working part time and being my husbands carer who is soley on benefits we are not well off and cannot afford to top up the private rent rate that is £350 short of the LHA rate (not that they would accept  us anyway been trying first) not all people wanting a council house are scroungers or whatever your perecived opinion of me is. There was a time when my husband was of sound mind and we didnt claim a penny, how i wish we could go back to that.

baza52

Anon8888 said:

It would give us another 'point' in band b so people with two housing needs in band b is higher fhan 1.

Thankyou for your suggestions. The sleep comment about the baby was wrong from dr just showed he didnt listen. 

My husband had his own room for his mental health problems pre baby and his lack of sleep is not from the baby as i deal with him on my own at night in our room. His lack of sleep is the uncomfortable sofa and going downhill due to not having his own space to escape to (due to anxiety he rarely leaves the housr so is largeky house bound).

He is nit under any MH services hes awaiting cbt and other than that they say there is nothing they can do. 

surely he can still use a bedroom to escape during the day and early evening when others are not sleeping.
Could you get a z type bed for him to use at night rather than the sofa and stow it during the day?

brewthebear

Without appearing rude why did you have another baby in these circumstances ??