Eye charities and welfare benefits

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Loopy-Lou
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Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
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Re: Eye charities and welfare benefits

Postby Loopy-Lou » Sun 07 Apr 2013 6:22 pm

This is highly pertinent Lynn because no one gets any support of any kind [in work, out of work, travel cards] without clear medical evidence - unless a recognised practitioner says it exists, then it doesn't, and a white stick doesn't make any difference.

If you can't use your correction, unless that is clinically validated you don't have a leg to stand on. Charities cannot verify this, only practitioners can.

If a simple tick box form were designed for optoms [which included some well worded holistic questions regarding functional abilities, difficulties and ability to to use correction and cope] that would be a significant step forward and well worth developing in my view. They would have to have a conversation asking questions most consultations don't usually allow for.

Your points about CXL are important because if a persons job requires good vision and there are no reasonable adjustments which can be made 9 months is a long time.

I saw a blind person on the TV who explained that when she loses her DLA she won't be able to continue working.

For people on ESA or JSA, if subject complete stoppage of income because of seeking 'reconsideration', being subject to a sanction [there are denied targets for sanctions], or simply waiting for a long period for payment to start, this can mean weeks/months with no income at all. Now what happens to a person's lenses in that time?
Social fund loans have been replaced with vouchers at Asda - buying single bottles of C/L solutions and saline is always cheaper in bulk online, and food banks don't even stock such products if you're sent there - so this would render people partially sighted.
We almost could do with setting up a lens solution bank for people in crisis with no income. However, what would be better would be to prevent that from happening in the first place by ensuring people get what they qualify for, and this means submitted evidence with a form. A name and address of a practitioner is not good enough now, forms need evidence submitted with them. This means we need to help optoms [and ophthalmologists where they are willing] to know how best to help their patients.

There is also a problem for those who end up on Workfare or required to do Jobcentre courses because attendance at medical appts if it means being unable to fullfil the course/workfare requirement can mean being sanctioned. There are many clear accounts of this happening for other conditions. This could mean not checking out suspected infection/rejection promptly enough.

If the Dundee study is representative of KC patients as a whole you might think this doesn't apply to many people but in this economic climate more are at risk of ending up on JSA/ESA, and DLA is definitely a benefit some members are in receipt of and the assessments for these will be along the lines of ESA assessments.

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Lynn White
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Re: Eye charities and welfare benefits

Postby Lynn White » Sun 07 Apr 2013 7:17 pm

Hi Louise

Re the Dundee study... good point.

To explain:

This is purely a snapshot and reflects that people with KC tend to try and keep in work when they can. The study was conducted between 1997 and 2000 which was at a time when we had a much better economic climate. This data also does not reflect the sheer effort it can take to keep employed.

People employ a lot of strategies to disguise the fact they have KC. This works when all you are doing is disguising your bad eye days.

When it comes to time off for contact lens refitting (having to go several weeks without CL wear to allow the cornea to recuperate before refitting) or CXL, then the stresses are much greater, as you know.

Lynn
Lynn White MSc FCOptom
Optometrist Contact Lens Fitter
Clinical Director, UltraVision

email: lynn.white@lwvc.co.uk


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