Please note that ALL communications with DANDA are via the info@danda.org.uk email address or via postal address (see Membership Page for details) ONLY until further notice.
My Department of Work and Pensions Medical
Peter J Brown
One Thursday evening on May 2007 shortly before 7 pm the telephone rang . I was just about to switch my computer off and go down stairs to watch Emmerdale. I thought at first the call was from a call centre. I was about to tell whoever was ever making the call to F off then he told me that he was calling from the Department of Work and Pensions . I was given a date and asked if it would be possible for me to attend a medical about my Incapacity benefit. This was news that I had dreaded for a long time. It was way back in 1993 that I last had a social security medical. I realised that I had no reason to complain about the fact that I was to undergo an examination. I have always had a policy of honesty. Before the appointment the Department of Work and Pensions rang me in order to make sure I could attend the medical. I turned up for the medical that took place in Thornaby on the Tuesday morning. Many people who attended Department of Works and Pensions medicals appeared to come by their own cars and motor bikes. The medical was more mentally thorough than physically thorough. When I was asked did I suffer from depression I pointed to the doctors computer and said that in the sixties, seventies and eighties and early nineties I had suffered from the black dog through the frustration of not being able to express myself on paper, and now I suffered a lot less from the black dog because I could now express myself in writing on my computer. I was even asked what newspapers I read and what radio stations I listened to. I told the doctor that I listened to radio stations and read newspapers before breakfast and then I disciplined myself by writing on my word processor and email. Notable absences from the questions were: did I smoke and what educational qualifications had I got?
Peter J Brown
One Thursday evening on May 2007 shortly before 7 pm the telephone rang . I was just about to switch my computer off and go down stairs to watch Emmerdale. I thought at first the call was from a call centre. I was about to tell whoever was ever making the call to F off then he told me that he was calling from the Department of Work and Pensions . I was given a date and asked if it would be possible for me to attend a medical about my Incapacity benefit. This was news that I had dreaded for a long time. It was way back in 1993 that I last had a social security medical. I realised that I had no reason to complain about the fact that I was to undergo an examination. I have always had a policy of honesty. Before the appointment the Department of Work and Pensions rang me in order to make sure I could attend the medical. I turned up for the medical that took place in Thornaby on the Tuesday morning. Many people who attended Department of Works and Pensions medicals appeared to come by their own cars and motor bikes. The medical was more mentally thorough than physically thorough. When I was asked did I suffer from depression I pointed to the doctors computer and said that in the sixties, seventies and eighties and early nineties I had suffered from the black dog through the frustration of not being able to express myself on paper, and now I suffered a lot less from the black dog because I could now express myself in writing on my computer. I was even asked what newspapers I read and what radio stations I listened to. I told the doctor that I listened to radio stations and read newspapers before breakfast and then I disciplined myself by writing on my word processor and email. Notable absences from the questions were: did I smoke and what educational qualifications had I got?
When I asked when I would get the results of the medical, I was told in about three weeks.
On leaving the building, I wondered if I had destroyed my own claim for incapacity benefit by quoting from Churchill in talking about the black dog. I thought that I had three weeks to relax before hearing the verdict. The medical took place on the Tuesday. On the Friday morning after the examination a letter dropped through my letterbox with a Department for Work and Pensions postmark on. When I opened the letter the language used was very vague. The penny slowly dropped that my Incapacity Benefit would continue but I would need to undergo a medical every three years. I cannot complain about the outcome. I am to have both a colonoscopy and a Department of Works and Pensions Medical every three years. It all seems rather reasonable to me.
