The State of the State

I haven't touched on it for a while - and haven't thought about it much either - but our appeal against the PCT's decision is making its slow progress through the system. It now lies with the Healthcare Commission; another large faceless bureaucracy from whom I anticipate a few pleasantries and at least one sentence beginning with the words 'I regret to...'.

The Commission cannot promise rapid action; investigations take time and they have already exceeded their target of 20 working days to complete the initial review by some margin (they received our form some time mid-August). I received an email yesterday which suggested its going to be at least another couple of weeks before we hear anything. The decision to push on and get Tom implanted is fairly well vindicated don't you think?

Largely speaking, I'm fairly calm when thinking about such matters these days. There are occasions when the inadequacies and failings of the system pierce my bubble of zen-like peace but thankfully, for the sake of my sanity, they are relatively infrequent now.

I had a moment yesterday when the Department of Work and Pensions decided Tom didn't qualify for a Disability Living Allowance. More precisely (I suspect) we didn't use the appropriate trigger words in the impressively long application form that would have convinced them of his needs.

So there's another appeal process to start. I had no idea how much paperwork and hassle was involved in trying to get the appropriate care and making claims. Is it this way to put off the chancers and the scroungers? Surely they're the only ones with the stamina to see it through.