Just sometimes I would like to feel like we were actually getting somewhere. It's not alot to ask is it? We have always been honest people, never broke the law, we respect others and try to help people when we can, we think we are what they call 'good citizens'. So why when you do no wrong can you still be punished by things.
Hubby was the 'victim' of medical negligence, not once, not twice, not three times but four. We never got an apology from three of them, and one of them told us we should have been grateful to the doctor concerned as he eventually got it right! On one of them we asked how it had happened and could we have an apology - we were told to sue if we wanted answers even though they admitted their negligence. So we had to go through six years of hell in and out of court until a week before the final hearing when they decided to settle out of court.
Then we ended up in a right mess due to HMRC Tax Credits, who basically cost us the monies won from the court and now after having two years of hell with them we are told by the so called government Ombudsman that - yes HMRC were wrong in their actions but they are not going to be made to put us back in the position we were in prior to their maladministration.
I have been to our esteemed Prime Minister who although sympathises does not have time to look into individual cases, I have been to the Treasury who basically said tough, I have been to our MP who is as much use as a chocolate teapot, and now the so called independant Ombudsman. They all agree what has been done to us was wrong but like hell will they rectify their mistakes.
Dealing with cancer is one thing, but having to deal with all this other rubbish on top is another. All we want is to be treated the same as others but we are constantly told you are atypical. We just want to try and enjoy what life we have together, however long that may be but someone somewhere seems intent on doing things to us that mean we have to keep fighting and arguing with them. Yes we could just walk away but where would that get us, we would still be being treated unfairly because these so called departments will still want their slice of our cake, even though they all agree what is happening is nor right or fair. If we walk away then our children will be treated differently to other children with parents in our financial circumstances and I do not think that my kids should always have to hear me say they can't have because we are different.
No one believes me when I say that hubby has not been in work for over 9 years but he is still made to pay PAYE on the insurance money he gets. The law of the land says that only Employees can pay NI but the same department that uses that rule to take money off us then says that hubby is not Employed for tax credits for our children. The joke is I trained in this profession and all my old collegues cannot understand what is happening to us. None of them have ever heard of someone who has not been to work for all this time still paying PAYE. Each department I speak to at HMRC has different views, and no answers. Just because the law says something does not mean it is right and I always thought the reason we had MPs was that they could get things changed in law that weren't right.
To have dealt with cancer since 1995, I never thought we would still be fighting the simple things all these years on. All we want is some peace and to be treated fairly.
So now with a mind full of worry over test results and getting through another year of chemo my mind is full of worries over our finances and how we can take this further and bring it to a conclusion.
This is not just us, I am so fed up with speaking to others in the same boat who are also having to fight for help. So many who are told they are not sick enough for assistance with their finances. How sick do you have to be?
It just feels like one step forward and three back all the time.
None of these people are answerable for their actions, and yet they are civil servants. What a country we live in!!
Sorry for ranting but it is the only way I can stop myself from going mad with it all.
Ray xxx
