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	TX: 06.12.04 - Macmillan PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON

	THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT.혻 BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 91훑괵 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. ROBINSON When people are diagnosed with a serious illness such as cancer you might think that money would be last thing on their mind. But in fact the financial ramifications can add to the misery. Macmillan Cancer Relief recently published a report suggesting that up to three quarters of a million people diagnosed with cancer each year suffer financial hardship because they don't know that help is available. Macmillan says lack of knowledge, embarrassment or the complexity of the claim forms stops people claiming benefits to which they're entitled . Lindsey Cornwall Jones went to a parliamentary reception held to highlight this issue, she met Tessa Gillbard, who related her experience of claming welfare benefits while undergoing chemotherapy and the additional expenses her disability living allowance helped her to meet. ACTUALITY - RECEPTION GILLBARD Well the extra costs really involved the trips to the hospital on a very regular basis, the parking. I've had to adapt a particular diet to suit my needs and complementary therapies plus supplementary medication. It's been really, really tough, not just with trying to address one's mortality but the spiralling depression that set in as well was an added difficulty. CORNWALL JONES Why was DLA so important for you? GILLBARD Because with three teenage children and my elderly mother I wasn't just thinking of myself but I was having to cope with everyday needs for them. CORNWALL JONES What sort of thing would make the process easier for people receiving a diagnosis now? GILLBARD I feel very strongly that there should be someone at the hospital who has some knowledge of benefits to actually be there with the patient, to have someone guide them through the unending questions, which covered 40 plus pages, was at the time quite a trauma. CORNWALL JONES Peter Cardy, of Macmillan Cancer Relief, how typical is Tessa's experience? CARDY Very typical. People with cancer often don't get information and advice about claiming benefits early or at all. Something like half of people who would be entitled under the rules to attendance allowance or disability living allowance don't claim it and we know something like three quarters of them have found that cancer has serious financial effects - we're talking about, well supposing you suffer from nausea or are incontinent as a result of the cancer or its treatment, so you've got to keep the washing machine running all day, you've got to keep the heat up, lots of people lose weight dramatically when they have cancer and their clothes literally fall of them. We've even talked to people who have felt they've had to make a choice about whether they continue to afford the prescriptions for their drugs as outpatients and having food on the table. CORNWALL JONES What is the solution do you think? CARDY To provide benefits advice in hospital to people who are diagnosed with cancer, even if they don't want or need to claim right at the outset. There are now quite a lot of benefits advice posts that have been funded by Macmillan but we can't do that all ourselves, we believe that the government is going to have to take the heavy end of this particular burden. CORNWALL JONES But how practical is it to put welfare advisors in the hospital? CARDY I think it's very practical, it's not much different from getting any other form of information about cancer. CORNWALL JONES Maria Eagle, Minister for Disabled People at the Department for Work and Pensions, how do you respond to what you've heard? EAGLE Well can I say first of all that entitlement to disability allowance and attendance allowance is not dependent on diagnosis of any condition, it's dependent on the impact that any condition or illness has upon the requirement people have for extra care or help with mobility. So it would be very difficult to make an exception for one particular condition. That having been said, we accept and understand that things like extremely long and complicated forms can put people off from claiming what is their entitlement. In fact we've cut, for example, the length of the attendance allowance claim form from 39 pages to 19 pages recently, it still sounds like a long form but believe you me that is a big improvement. We're doing a similar job with the disability living allowance claim form at present, we're currently trialling a cut in the length of that form from 46 pages to 23 pages and again if that is shown in its trial period to work out we intend to spread that across the rest of the country, that should help. Now that isn't all we're doing but it's a start and I think it is important to understand that disabled people, whether they're living with cancer or with other conditions, aren't always in the best state to start filling out these forms, we do understand that. CORNWALL JONES So do you think the current system is adequate? EAGLE I think the current system enables us to get help to meet some of the extra costs of disability across a range of conditions to millions of people in this country. There's no indication on the basis of the numbers of people successfully claiming that there's such a barrier that it's stopping people claiming - the numbers claiming are going up, spend on disability living allowance has increased by 26% over the last five years. Now that also does not suggest that there aren't improvements that can be made but I can assure you that along with organisations like Macmillan we are taking steps to improve the way in which we present chances to disabled people to make these claims and that includes cancer sufferers. ROBINSON Maria Eagle, the Minister for Disabled People, talking to Lindsey Cornwall Jones. And the Department for Work and Pensions has since told us that it is planning to discuss further the access to benefits advice in hospitals and the Citizens Advice Bureau says it's increasing its profile in hospitals and in GPs' surgeries. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 91훑괵 is not responsible for external websites

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