Heya,
On Monday, I had my Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS) phone call - set up by Universal Credit.
This was a seriously distressing day for me - actually I had better go before Monday to explain how filling in the form went.
So in August, my UC workcoach (who I usually get on with), phones and says he will send out forms for the HAAS.
With a lot of help from my Mum and Dad, we gathered literally all my medical history dating back to the 1990's and sent it all off - in a parcel, rather than the silly A5 envelope the HAAS sent me.
When I got the first response back, saying it would be a phone call on the 23rd October - I had to change this as I wasn't going to talk to them on my own and my parents were currently on holiday (cruise to the Canary Islands), so it got moved to Monday 28th instead.
So that day came and I must admit I was absolutely panicking like mad - I wanted to take the morning off work for the phone call, but it was half term and my manager had another child event on at the same time as the centre (Wildlife Trust) was open and I was 'technically' in charge of the crafting event - thankfully I had other volunteer's and my Mum helping right up until the time of my assessment - so that did distract me a bit, although not much.
My Manager allowed me use of the main office for the phone call, so I got a decaf coffee, lemon and ginger tea for Mum and we settled down.
Anyway, the call....finally....happened (25 minutes after the actual appointment time).
Here's the gist of what was said...
After the initial security questions - the woman said "How is the depression doing now?"
- Well actually I only have anxiety, reduced liver function and self-diagnosed ASD (still waiting for assessment). So that got my back up and I started shaking like crazy.
Mum tried to explain more about my physical and mental health, but the woman just stated "I can't write all that down! I can only go on what the form says!"
Then she said about whether or not I was feeling suicidal (err...no) and both me and Mum were thinking "Just what form has this lady got in front of her?"
Mum kept trying to explain but she kept retorting that she didn't have time to write all the info down.
This kept going all throughout the phonecall - by which time I had gone into full meltdown - complete with crying, shaking and going mute on the woman.
At the end of the phone call, Mum had the guts to ask what was the woman's profession - to which her response was and I quote...
"I am a physiotherapist. But don't worry, I have had a full 6 week training course and know what I am talking about!"
After the phone call, even Mum (who bless her heart had been suffering badly with a cold), was extremely frustrated in the way the woman handled the phone call.
When we went back out into the main centre - my best friend (who has helped me so much as she is also on the ASD spectrum - so has been able to understand me more) just took one look at me, bolted into the cafe next door and came back with a large hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and said "no you're not going to pay me back...you look like you've been through hell and back!"
At the moment I am only claiming UC as I only do less than 16 hours a week paid work - but I am now not sure if I will lose that, depending on how the results come back from the HAAS.
I have a meeting on the 6th November with my work coach - and for the first time in a long while - Mum is coming with me to complain about the phone call and how I was on the day.
I'm sorry for the very long post - but just wanted to vent a bit after the stress of Monday.
Mweekie xx