We have added a new Sample Letter for you to send to your MP.

This letter picks up on the previous issues of the DLA, the Right Payment Programme & Special Rules Review. What is new is that is mentioned the current Welfare Reform Green Paper. This will also have an impact on us all especially if you are currently in receipt of Incapacity Benefit.

We would urge you to submit a response to the Welfare Reform Green Paper but if at the very least you would send a letter to your MP we would be grateful.

Thank you.

Found on the BBC News Website. This story, below, very much touches on the issues people with HIV face in the work place.

The original story can be found here. 

Press release from the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) can be found by clicking here.  This highlights the need for anyone with HIV and able to work to have the protection of a trade union or other such body to protect their rights in the work place. Not often successful most cases of this type typically, result in those with HIV leaving there job having struck a deal with their employer. Bound to silence by a "Compromise Agreement". Of course this makes it extremely difficult for those to get another job for the reasons highlighted also in this case.

Information on the Employment Tribunal System can be found at www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk . 

I have an outstanding complaint with the DWP on a few issues related to my claim. Though submitted a month ago and due a response within 7 days. I have requested that my local MP, Greg Hands . Now pursues this through the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

It will be interesting if my MP will follow through with this as so far to date I have not even received a courteous acknowledgment of correspondence sent to him thus far on my and our issues.

This relates to common issues with respect to not just my claim but I feel, from your feedback, other claims as well.

I will let you know how this progresses and more detail when I get it.

In an effort to gain more understanding of how the DWP understand us with HIV.  Some Freedom of Information requests have been submitted.

Two contributors from Brighton have submitted a request to find out who the medical board are.

I have submitted two requests. One to find out about the training staff get, who provides it etc..

Secondly, the Disability Carers Service Advisory Forum and the minutes of their meetings. This being different than the newsletters they put out. 

Moving forward it is important for us to understand how our issues are dealt with by government.

I will post more information when I get it.

This was an anonymous comment posted to the bottom of the Sample Letters Page. I have moved it here as it seems a better place for it.

The comment was left on Monday 4th August 2008 @ 8.03pm.

"Is this letter a joke?

LOL

You can't really expect an MP to take that letter seriously. Not only is it illiterate drivel; but it passes unsubstantiated – and largely uninformed - opinion off as fact. GET A GRIP (if you want to be more than the obvious laughing stock that you currently are)."

Clearly someone has been upset by this (DWP maybe?) and the criticism doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

Picked up from a comment on a recent post. I note that Mrs. Christine Whitehead , HIV Nurse Consultant & member of the Appeals Service. Is also a member of the Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board. 

Her special interest is the management of HIV as a chronic condition.

As part of the research into what training on HIV is undertaken by the DWP for it's Decision Makers.  I note in section 9.2 of the Full Board Meeting Notes 12th February 2008. That Mrs. Whitehead has provided training for Decision Makers relating to AIDS highlighting that the best evidence relating to AIDS came from Hospitals. 

I will be writing to the board to establish the form and more specific detail on this training. I think there is also merit in establishing how many enquires? and what advice was given to Medical Services doctors? by the board in relation to HIV/AIDS under the current climate of DLA review.

As you may be aware all this week in Mexico the World Aids Conference 2008 is taking place.

Terrence Higgins Trust are taking part as you would expect.  You can find out how THT are participating by clicking here.

One of the topics being raised is

"Benefits for Life? The dilemma of reviewing and reducing state benefits for those living longer than predicted on antiretrovirals and the impact on people with HIV"

We thank THT for the mention of this site and for raising this issue as clearly this impacts many countries and their respective HIV communities.  

Also this raises the profile of the issues within the UK which we can only welcome.

 It's been a busy week with the World Aids Conference and no doubt we will have much to read about, in our various journals, on advances and initiatives.  

If you wanted to watch some of the webcast's etc. from the conference you can find them at www.aids2008.org or www.kaisernetwork.org .

Of particular interest to me was the webcast on the use of IT and mobile phones.

Thanks to K for emailing me this.

Note : If you want to attend this event please email your name to mya.stevens@radar.org.uk to register your attendance. Places are limited to 80.

RADAR is organising a series of debates in different parts of the country to promote discussion of the relevance of disability equality to solving some of today's biggest policy challenges.  

You are invited to the inaugural debate on Monday September 1^st from 4.00 – 6.30pm where the motion to be debated is:

“This House believes that the majority of disabled people can and should work.”

 I am happy to disclosed, information that was provided from the DWP website today, which confirms in Feb 2008 the total number of people affected with HIV/AIDS who claimed and Entiitled to was:

I have received some information from Mr. Core & his colleague, a regular contributor to our cause. This is information on a Freedom of Information Request about the Doctors used by the DWP.

I have also received the membership and Agenda & Minutes from the DCS Advisory Forum under one of my requests.

Please bear with me as I am under the weather at the moment and will post all this information tomorrow.

Further to my request under the Freedom of Information Act for the Agenda's and Minutes of the meetings, from January 2006 to present date, of the Disability Carers Advisory Forum part of the Department for Work & Pensions.

I am posting the data received so you can see what has happened in this forum, what was discussed etc.. 

Click here for the list of members and the date of joining the forum.  THT have been a member since 2005.

Mr Core submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act to find out exactly who the Doctors were on the DWP Medical Panel.  There were several issues raised - HIV experience, If medic's visited a person at home what identification was presented, How could it be verified? etc. .  This information is also necessary to know should any claimant want to challenge a medical opinion of one of the doctors commenting on a case, in a court of law.

This of course raised issues where a DWP Medical Praticioner, who could be a nurse ,reaches a medical judgement that might be contrary to that of a claiments consultant who is likely to be more learned in HIV matters. 

Mr Core kindly sent me all the information regarding this request. As you can imagine the DWP were not happy to release this information, it took many months and Mr Core was left with no choice but to take the matter through to the Information Commissioner's Office. This office told the DWP to release the information otherwise it would formally order it to do so.

Mr Core asked if any of the Doctors were of or over retirement age as specified in UK law.  This matter remains outstanding as the DWP have said they cannot reveal the "dates of birth" of these Doctors. Though that was not what was asked. You must draw you own conclusions as to why this general point has been unanswered.

Below you will see the response, with names of DWP employee's not subject to the Freedom of Information Request edited out.

Here are the documents received as a result of Freedom of information Requests.

• Medical Doctors Panel request by Mr Core. This is a .pdf document.
• DWP Training in HIV/AIDS for Staff. (40mb file)
• DWP response to training given by Christine Whitehead of the Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board (DLAAB) on HIV/AIDS.
• The medical report requests sent to your doctors for completion can be found by clicking here for the HFR (TI) report usually sent when a claim is reviewed or by clicking here for the DBD365.
• Response on Data Handling by the DWP.  From the efforts of one of our contributors a response on how data is handled, stored and who has access. This is an ongoing enquiry.
• Number of cases from DWP. From the efforts of one of our contributors the number of cases being reviewed. Of interest is that the DWP don't know how many DLA556 forms they have sent out. (13 November 2008).

DCS Advisory Panel.

• Member information in .doc format.
• Agenda's from January 2006 to August 2008 in .zip format.
  
  
• Meeting Minutes 2008 in .zip format (to August 2008).
• Meeting Minutes 2007 in .zip format.
  
  
• Meeting Minutes 2006 in .zip format.

I would draw your attention to this post in the Forums on the Fear of Prosecution.

Very relevant. Legally I would draw attention to the requirement in law to notify the DWP of changes to circumstances.

Further to the previous entry "HIV/AIDs current DWP figures posted as a comment by Kevin".

He is provided me with the full DWP figures across all disabilities up to February 2008.

If you want to see the number of cases by disability for the Care Component click here, for the Mobility Component click here.

Of interest as is demonstrates the extremely low percentage of claims in relation to all other disability claims. Also it is fair to note that it is likely that where HIV/AIDS in not listed by the claimant as their primary illness for the claim this will not appear as a AIDS statistic rather under the primary illness.

Hello all.

Not been ignoring the blog its just one of the spells where we are waiting for responses to correspondence etc. 

Further to the entries on controlling access to and medical reports on you.  Click here for the list or here for the sample letter.

Even if you have been through the "review" process. Protecting what is written about you medically may be prudent for the future.

An emailed comment to a post but deserves highlighting.

Hope you all had a good bank holiday. Had a chance to me some people who contribute to this campaign & website and I thank them for their time. Yesterday the blog was down for a bit. This was a problem, resolved with the ISP. Thanks to those who let me know.

Various blog applications have been helpful since day one of this "campaign". However thinking of what and where we want to be in future & the structure of the website.

We will be undertaking a move of the blog content into the Forum's Section over the next month or so.  

New posts and information from tomorrow will be posted into the Forum Section.  

You will of course be able to post your comments anywhere and we will move them at the appropriate time.

This will be the second and final move of the blog as we are now going to follow a standard model for all our sites.

Why are we doing this?.