You are a carer who is looking after Zoey who is hep C positive and unable to carry out her day-today tasks. She applied for a disability support pension last year and the doctor who assessed her felt that she did not qualify (although she has never had a regular doctor) and she was feeling much better at that time. You are at an appointment with an employment related agency to support Zoey in which the case manager is discussing Zoey’s failure to complete mutual obligation requirements. Zoey is told she will be breached for her failure to comply with regulations and lose payments for up to 16 weeks. Zoey starts crying and asks you if she can leave now. What do you do?
Issues for discussion
- Due to the health of people with hepatitis C often fluctuating, it is often difficult for people to measure their health indicators against systems that do not take into account health changes or quality of life measures.
- Fatigue and the validation of fatigue are extremely important for people. States of fatigue may vary and validation may occur through a biopsy. While fatigue is the most common symptom of hepatitis C many people do not attribute fatigue to hepatitis C and find it difficult to validate.
- Discrimination within the health care system often inhibits people with hepatitis C accessing regular medical support and treatment and this may impact upon various situations when documentary evidence of a medical history is needed to support a claim.
- The carer may be eligible for a carer’s allowance. Emotional support for carers is also important to help support their needs.
Client issues
- Encourage Zoey to seek a regular doctor in order to re-evaluate the disability claim.
- Discuss the financial implications for Zoey of loosing 16 weeks payment.
- Provide emotional support during the interview and follow up.
- Can you encourage Zoey to stay longer to discuss the situation? She may be able to be able to have a temporary exemption from mutual obligation requirements by getting a medical certificate until a re-evaluation of her disability claim has been assessed.
Organisational issues
- If Zoey feels it would support her needs, can you become an appointed nominee giving you authorisation to talk with the organisation directly when Zoey is unable to do so?
- Utilise organisational structures such as support workers, occupational therapists and social workers available to help mediate the situation and provide support to Zoey.
- Provide the employment related agency management with a list of training sites to enable more effective processing of claims for people with hepatitis C.
- Information should be shared with a client and clearly explained as to why documentary evidence is needed and what purpose it serves.