C
Carer
Guest
I have applied for a carer‘s allowance in respect of my elderly mother and today received a form letter informing me that she was 'not so disabled as to require full time care and attention’. The letter stated that: ‘at present you have been refused on the Medical aspect of your application, this is an interim decision only. All aspects of your claim are in the process of being examined…’
My mother is 73 and suffers from a number of serious health conditions including but not limited to severe arthritis, diabetes, and depression (she has been hospitalised in relation to the first and third of these). She is bent double, walks with great difficulty with a stick and is unable to leave the house. Her hip literally collapsed several years ago, but she had a bad fall after having it replaced and suffers from constant chronic pain. If she falls, (which she does on a frequent basis) she is unable to get up by herself. In addition she often needs help to get up from bed or from her armchair.
She is now unable to wash or dress without assistance. As she has great difficulty controlling her blood sugar levels she gets tends to get very tired. Consequently she needs to be supervised as she has a tendency to dose off and I am afraid she may fall into the open fire or otherwise do herself harm. While living alone she often neglected to eat, which only exacerbated that problem. She takes 23 tablets per day, and needs someone there to make sure she takes them as she tends to forget.
There is little chance of me getting work here. If I leave she may well have a serious fall or do enough damage to herself to require institutional care at a multiple of what it would cost to pay the allowance to me. I am hoping it will not come to that.
I’m going to see our GP tomorrow about appealing the decision. He previously said that he could see no reason why I would not be entitled to Carer’s Allowance for her and filled out and signed the relevant form. In addition he stated on it that she was not fit to attend for examination due to mobility problems. He did not however include any additional information in addition to the form and I fear this is where the problem may lie. We have not been contacted by anyone from the department with a request for more information about her condition.
Has anyone else had experience of this or does anyone knows exactly how disabled one needs to be to qualify for a Carer’s Allowance? Does the cared for person need to be bedridden? How should I go about appealing this? I’m not even sure where to send an appeal to as the letter came from the Carer’s Allowance section in Longford but Oasis.gov.ie suggests that social welfare appeals should be sent to the appeals office in Dublin.
My mother is 73 and suffers from a number of serious health conditions including but not limited to severe arthritis, diabetes, and depression (she has been hospitalised in relation to the first and third of these). She is bent double, walks with great difficulty with a stick and is unable to leave the house. Her hip literally collapsed several years ago, but she had a bad fall after having it replaced and suffers from constant chronic pain. If she falls, (which she does on a frequent basis) she is unable to get up by herself. In addition she often needs help to get up from bed or from her armchair.
She is now unable to wash or dress without assistance. As she has great difficulty controlling her blood sugar levels she gets tends to get very tired. Consequently she needs to be supervised as she has a tendency to dose off and I am afraid she may fall into the open fire or otherwise do herself harm. While living alone she often neglected to eat, which only exacerbated that problem. She takes 23 tablets per day, and needs someone there to make sure she takes them as she tends to forget.
There is little chance of me getting work here. If I leave she may well have a serious fall or do enough damage to herself to require institutional care at a multiple of what it would cost to pay the allowance to me. I am hoping it will not come to that.
I’m going to see our GP tomorrow about appealing the decision. He previously said that he could see no reason why I would not be entitled to Carer’s Allowance for her and filled out and signed the relevant form. In addition he stated on it that she was not fit to attend for examination due to mobility problems. He did not however include any additional information in addition to the form and I fear this is where the problem may lie. We have not been contacted by anyone from the department with a request for more information about her condition.
Has anyone else had experience of this or does anyone knows exactly how disabled one needs to be to qualify for a Carer’s Allowance? Does the cared for person need to be bedridden? How should I go about appealing this? I’m not even sure where to send an appeal to as the letter came from the Carer’s Allowance section in Longford but Oasis.gov.ie suggests that social welfare appeals should be sent to the appeals office in Dublin.