RMCIA April meeting - special session on DWP limited capacity for work questionnaire

At our meeting on Wednesday 11th April, Valerie Minns from the Rethink Mental Illness North West Regional Committee is coming along to take us through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) "limited capability for work" questionnaire.

If you have applied for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) because you are not well enough to work, the DWP have to decide whether you do qualify for this benefit. The test they use to decide this is called the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The "limited capability for work" questionnaire (ESA50) forms part of this assessment process.

The meeting will run from the usual time of 6 - 7.45pm but instead of having a half hour catch up before we begin the main session, we'll be starting as soon as possible after 6pm as we'll have lots to get through. Could those attending please be at Manchester Carers Centre for 6pm prompt.

If you need information on the WCA in the meantime, then there's a useful summary and factsheet available on the Rethink Mental Illness website.

Comments

Update on closure of MRI inpatient services

The NHS North West Board has approved the capital funding for Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust's Inpatient Pathway Redesign (IPR) Project. See the Trust's website for more information about this . This means that the Trust will now proceed with plans to relocate its inpatient services to two sites from the current three. The change will result in the inpatient beds that are currently at Edale House at Manchester Royal Infirmary being relocated to Park House on the North Manchester General Hospital site. The Trust says: "This will give us unprecedented opportunities to improve care to our service users and their carers." When the Trust announced its intention to close the inpatient unit at MRI we wrote to the Manchester Evening News to express our concerns about the extra burden this would place on some carers in terms of extra travelling time. The Trust's latest communication about the IPR states that: "The work in addressing concerns about ...

What an inspiring evening!

We had our 'Bring and Share' event tonight and as well as eating too much chocolate (again) I've come away feeling really inspired. We talked about all the skills, experience and knowledge that we've gained by either coping with having a mental illness, or though caring for a loved one who has been very ill. You can see all the ideas we jotted down from the discussion - from coming to understand your limitations (and that these can change), to developing patience, coping strategies and learning how to think positively. We understand how mental health services work and different illnesses themselves. It struck me, particularly from the people in the room who themselves have to deal with what can be devastating mental illnesses, that we're a pretty skilled bunch of people. For some, mental illness forces a process of self examination - and eventually self awareness - that is painful but hugely illuminating. It's a process that many of us won't have to go throu...

Park House relocation transport update

As readers of this blog may know, Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust is in the process of relocating psychiatric inpatient services from Edale House at the Central Manchester Hospital (MRI) site to Park House at North Manchester General Hospital. We've always been concerned about the impact that this move will have on carers and service users in terms of increased transport times. A representative from the Trust came to our meeting last month to update us on plans for transport and the Trust's latest newsletter contains the following update on the service user and carer transport sub-group: "The group last met on 6 February and it was decided that another visitor questionnaire should be undertaken to make sure that we make the right decisions about transport. It was also agreed that more engagement and communication with service users is necessary and the service users and carers who attend the meetings will support this....

Rethink Mental Illness Manchester Group

Search This Blog