Grade 4 rectal prolapse.

Carer's allowance is a replacement benefit so it is taken off one's pension so not worth claiming!

Oh. I didn't know that kittylester. Thanks for the info. Seems they make things as difficult as possible for people.

muse

I am just cross that soop (or anyone) should be suffering like this when we have a NHS!!

Yes, I have donated before to friends, neighbours, usually if they were running, walking etc. for charity. My lovely neighbours recently did a walk (they are much younger than me!).

kittylester

Carer's allowance is a replacement benefit so it is taken off one's pension so not worth claiming!

I didn't know that either, kittylester

Most unfair!

Hetty58

I say that because there is nothing to lose - and a possibility of having something done.

It seems to me that some people go to A & E for the slightest thing, and others hang on in excruciating pain, waiting for their 'turn' for treatment.

You wouldn’t believe some of the cases my young dd has seen as a junior doctor working in A&E. People coming in the middle of the night with a stye on their eye, emergency ambulances called for haemorrhoids, people wanting a packet of paracetamol for a headache or plasters for a cut. And they get nasty if they’re refused!

Then there are the ones who’ve left it so late that the staff need to move heaven and earth in order to give their patient a chance of life, when if they’d sought earlier treatment it wouldn’t necessarily have got to crisis point. It’s very sad.

What about PIP or the equivalent for those over pension age?
That's not taxed or taken off one's pension.

I believe the Scottish Government are now responsible for new applications.

And, you have to be caring for 35 hours a week I think. It might be worth doing if you are still employed.

But a benefits check is worth doing at any stage!!

I'm not sure you can start a PIP application over pension age.

You can't, but I think there is an equivalent, but not sure.

Attendance Allowance is the pension age equivalent of PIP, and I think Soop already gets that.

SueDonim every time I hear about cases like your daughter has described I’m utterly bewildered. I know it goes on, but it’s almost unbelievable. And then we have poor soop, and no doubt others, who simply can’t get the treatment they desperately need.
My daughter is a doctor too Sue, and as a GP she had patients come into the surgery, pre Covid this is, and demand sun cream for their children, because their child has sensitive skin and needs the expensive sensitive type sun cream. You couldn’t make it up! And she’s also had parents shouting at her because she wouldn’t prescribe nit lotion. Quite rightly she said that’s not what the NHS is for, sun cream or nit lotion. I agree with her, the NHS is for the treatment of sick people, like our own dear soop. It’s irritating knowing she can’t get treatment she desperately needs, whilst parents are asking for nit lotion. Surely it’s down to parents to provide sun lotion and nit lotion for their children.

Thank you SueDonim, and yes, it can be a case of he who shouts the loudest.

I was once blue-lighted to hospital with intestinal anaphylaxis. In the trolley queue, on the way in, a chap was shouting and screaming. 'Not you again!' said a nurse 'You won't get a bed for the night, you're just drunk again, that's all!'

My lovely ambulance people left, and I (quietly bearing the agony) was asked to leave my trolley and walk (stagger) into the adjoining room. (They were short of trolleys.) I couldn't stand, couldn't sit - so curled up on the hard floor on my side.

Yet - there he was, Mr Shouty Drunk, still lying on his trolley!

I have a neighbour who is a hypochondriac and has brought her family up to be the same.
Two examples amongst many are ( one) her D went to A&E because she had poked herself in the eye whilst applying mascara and (two) her D went once again to A&E because her own D who she was treating with bitter aloes to stop her biting her nails applied a large dose to her M’s toothbrush and she thought it may have poisoned her, you couldn’t make it up.

Attendance Allowance opens the door to other benefits though which is why I suggested soop asks for a benefits check.

I found this on the Age UK website.

Claiming Attendance Allowance won't reduce any other income you receive. ... If you're awarded Attendance Allowance, you may become entitled to other benefits, such as Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction, or an increase in these benefits if you're already receiving them.

I am really surprised that a few people on here are suggesting calling 999 for an ambulance for Soop.

Ambulances, especially now, are only for life or death emergencies like heart attacks, strokes, chocking or when a person has been in a serious accident.

A and E is not the place to pitch up when we feel frustrated at a long wait to see a specialist, regardless of how dispiriting that must be.

I would also be in favour of looking into taking out more equity from the house, even though you have already done that in the past.

It’s been widely reported in the press that property prices up and down the country have leapt over the past year, so you might be pleasantly surprised at how much your home is worth now.

Something to think about if the crowd funding idea doesn’t appeal after you have looked into it.

I would also be in favour of looking into taking out more equity from the house, even though you have already done that in the past.

But why?
If someone has paid into NI all their lives why should they have to pay £25,000 just because they are older and in real need of treatment?

I do take the point about 999 being for dire emergencies but people call 999 for ridiculous reasons.

Why should anyone have to crowd fund for a procedure which will alleviate such misery and give a better quality of life to an older person and should be done by the NHS?

Oh I completely agree Calistemon (what’s happened to your missing l?!).
We shouldn’t have to fund our own treatment when that’s exactly what the health service is for. It’s shocking, but as soop has said, she thinks she would be facing a long wait for her treatment unless she was prepared to have it done privately which apparently would cost an outrageous £25,000.

I was just putting forward an alternative to the crowd funding idea, which may come to nothing, as presumably it relies on complete strangers making donations to the treatment.

Yes, I realise that, I am just rather cross.

I may have to pay for a knee operation myself but it doesn't seem as necessary somehow.

The l went for a wander, got lost in amongst all these pop-up adverts! I had an IT problem.

Soop, could you say to the surgeon you will struggle enormously to find 25 K and can he offer you a better price? It seems an incredibly high figure and presumably fairly arbitrary.

Ah, the dreaded IT problems!
It’s probably the time of day to feel a bit cross isn’t it?!
I am as I’m tired and should be asleep by now but my blasted hip is keeping me awake, hence I’m on here!
I’m having a total hip replacement next month though, so although I am getting very nervous I realise how lucky I am that I have reached the top of the list and now have a date for the op.

In the days of being a GP on call from home, a patient once rang me at 3 am to say they couldn't sleep!!!

Hope all goes well for you Jennifer

Jennifer, good luck from me too.
I have an initial appointment to see about a hip replacement in a couple of weeks. Things seem to be moving again.
I was told the waiting list was very lengthy, this appointment has come out of the blue! Procedures never phase me, but this time, I'm really nervous. Perhaps its due to the presence of Covid.