Sad time for you all but at least you know MIL is now pain free. Sending Pammy hugs x

I would agree with that JR.

Icebergs and Dolphins

RIP Tony 

why am i not suprised i know benefit recipeints are treated as though they are spongers, scroungers, feckless, workyshy, layabouts, please don't tell me i have to add terrist to the list i can't  even spell it    

I wouldn't, worry about spelling stuff on here hifimad we all do it especially me

Had this information in a news letter, it covers the lie detector issue, and at the bottom in bold raises some concerns for anyone I would think as none of us knows what is around the corner for us in our lives.


Lie Detectors, Weird Phone Calls And Shoving Claimants To The Back Of NHS Queues

According to freedom of information requests made by the Guardian, Capita are still making millions from persuading councils up and down the country to use their discredited lie detector software on benefit claimants.

This is despite the fact that the system was originally developed by Israeli intelligence for use on terrorists, not people needing help with paying the rent. 

And it’s also despite the fact that even the DWP say the telephone-based voice risk analysis software isn’t reliable.  Independent experts have even compared it to astrology.

What it does do very reliably, however, is increase the impression that claimants should be treated like criminals . . . and make a mint for Capita, of course.

Disturbing phone calls of a different kind have been reported by blogger and support group claimant Lisa Egan.  She was called by her local Jobcentre to ask what her ‘aims’ were and quizzed about her former employment as a stand-up comedian.  We’d like to know if other support group members have been contacted by their Jobcentre and asked about their employment prospects.

Though employment, or the lack of it, may soon affect more than just your income and social standing.  If Dame Carol Black has her way it will also affect your chances of getting treated in a reasonable timescale by your local hospital.

Dame Black, inventor of the ‘fit note’ wants to start a national debate about whether the NHS should prioritise treatment for sick workers over those who don’t have a job. 

In other words, if you’re unemployed there’s less point in giving you prompt medical treatment if there are economically active people also waiting for help.  Astonishingly, the chief medical officer at the DWP appears to agree that this is an issue that needs to be discussed.

I was unwell before xmas for a couple of days, a bit iffy over xmas and at the meet up, and have had 3 similiar instances since.
A work colleague mentioned my symptoms sounded like low blood pressure. I phoned my doctors today.
I don't need an appointment apparently, I can have my blood pressure done in the reception area, private little corner 
So I called after work. My BP was a little teeny weeny bit high. They advised I sat there for 5 and did the test again.
It had gone up LOL. So now I've got to see a doctor for a routine BP check, just in case the machine reading was out.
Here's the good bit, the first appointment available that suits me with my working life is the 1st of April. 3 weeks time.
That includes the late surgery appointments, as late as 7.00pm two days a week.

If I get another bout of plague in the meen time, I'll have to take time off work to make an appointment. 
There's something wrong with the system when your poorly and can't get to a doctor.

Fly just sitting waiting to see the gp or have blood pressure monitored can push up blood pressure even if we feel ok.
Hope you also get sorted - just a thought but have you looked at diet, to see if there is a pattern after eating/drinking something.
I don't know what symptons low blood pressure causes apart from fainting.

These people will stoop to levels to hide what they are doing - and they keep getting away with it.


Benefits, UK NEWS, Work Programme, Work-Programme, UK Politics News .Iain Duncan Smith has been caught up in a new row over his department's dodgy use of official figures, the fourth in a year.

The controversy erupted after top Department for Work and Pensions official Neil Couling tried to defend the government's Work Programme during a grilling by members of Parliament's work and pensions committee using unpublished data, which angered MPs as they did not have a chance to properly scrutinize the figures.

Labour member Sheila Gilmore complained to Sir Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, who confirmed that "published official statistics should be referred to in public statements" and that alternative information should be used only in "exceptional circumstances".

Sir Andrew added: "It is a matter of regret that DWP’s usual practice, which would have ensured compliance with the National Statistician’s guidance, was not followed."

Labour MP Sheila Gilmore said: "By quoting data that wasn’t publicly available at the time, DWP official Neil Couling made it impossible for my colleagues and I on the Work and Pensions Committee to hold him – and the Ministers to whom he reports – to account. This bad practice must not happen again."









ttp://benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2673-iain-duncan-smith-s-statistical-foul-play-exposed-for-fourth-time-in-year