Published3 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Ashley HallBy Katharine Da CostaBBC NewsA man with chronic health conditions said he is in limbo after being turned down for a disability benefit.Ashley Hall, 36, from Witney, Oxfordshire, suffers from Type 1 Diabetes and was recently diagnosed with bile acid malabsorption.It causes severe diarrhoea and prevents the body from absorbing nutrients, leaving him fatigued and in pain.Mr Hall was signed off work last May but was turned down for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in August.His mandatory reconsideration [challenge to the benefits decision] was refused two months later. He now faces a seven-month wait for a tribunal in order to appeal the decision by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The government said it has made millions of PIP decisions and 3% have been overturned.Disability benefits cost could rocket, report saysWelfare cuts worth billions planned by ministers”It’s got massive impacts, I constantly need to go to the toilet,” Mr Hall said.”I’m constantly in pain and tired all the time because I get about two hours sleep a night with it.”I can spend six hours a day on the toilet. I wouldn’t employ me on that and the doctors have said I’m not able to work.”He said that because his body cannot absorb nutrients his sugar levels are “so up and down and sporadic that I’m not able to commit myself to a job”.Image source, Ashley HallThe father-of-three gave up his maintenance job at a water company two years ago when he started suffering from ongoing bouts of stomach pain. He then took on a job as a delivery driver, which offered more routine shifts and shorter working hours but, when the pain started to get worse, he was signed off by his GP in May 2023. He was diagnosed with Bile Acid Malabsorption on 1 December.His wife is a full-time carer to one of their children who also suffers from Type 1 Diabetes and the couple receive universal credit, which Mr Hall says covers the rent and bills but leaves little else for family life.”I’ve always been strong mentally but this is grinding me down now,” he said, adding: “We don’t get to go out and do things as a family, it’s horrible.”PIPs are awarded based on how conditions affect the claimant and are meant to cover the additional living costs incurred as a result.In total, 3.2 million adults in England and Wales now receive PIP to help with the extra cost of living with a health condition or disability.The number has increased by about one million over the last decade and is forecast by the DWP to rise by another million over the next three years.According to DWP, in the five years to June 2023, 2.9 million initial decisions following a PIP assessment were made and, by October 2023, 8% were appealed and 3% were overturned at tribunal.Mr Hall said he found the assessment process for PIP stressful and that DWP’s questions made him feel “worthless”.The DWP said: “We support millions of people every year and our priority is they receive a supportive service and get the benefits they are entitled to as soon as possible.”Our disability assessors are qualified health professionals and decisions are made using all the available information. If someone disagrees with a decision, they can ask for this to be reconsidered and appeal to an independent tribunal, as Mr Hall has done in this case.”Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.More on this storyDisability benefits cost could rocket, report saysPublished18 September 2023Seven out of 10 win benefits challenges in courtPublished24 September 2021Related Internet LinksDepartment for Work and PensionsThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing”It comes with risks, but then this operation will mean I’ve done the best for her. In my mind there was no choice – I just had to do it.”After six failed rounds of IVF, Helena had almost given up hope of having a second baby. But on her seventh attempt she became pregnant and things seemed to progress well until her 20-week scan.There, Helena was told her daughter had spina bifida.Spina bifida: Keyhole surgery repairs baby spine in womb”It was a very large legion on her back and half of her spine was exposed. They said that it was likely she will be paralysed, incontinent and will need a shunt to drain the fluid from her brain later on,” Helena recalls. “I was beside myself when they told me all the possible outcomes for having this condition and I couldn’t stop crying. “They told me the probability of her walking or moving her legs was very, very low – and that was absolutely devastating.”Quality of lifeWithin days, Helena was referred for tests and told she was eligible for surgery. At 23 weeks pregnant, she travelled to a specialist hospital in Belgium, which works in partnership with the NHS.A team of around 25 clinicians carried out the complex operation to repair her baby’s exposed spinal cord and close the hole in her back.”I knew if I didn’t get the operation the quality of her life would be very different,” Helena says.Prof Anna David, foetal medicine consultant at University College Hospital in London, said: “Previously the baby would have the repair to the defect after birth – but now that we can do the surgery in the womb, the defect is closed a lot earlier so it means there’s less damage to the spine.”That increases the chances of the child being able to walk and have more control over their bladder and bowel.”Helena gave birth to her daughter Mila – short for milagro, or miracle, in Spanish – at University College London Hospital three months after the surgery. Mila still has some fluid on her brain, but so far she is showing signs of good development.’So grateful'”She can move her legs,” says Helena, “and she’s got feeling to her toes so it’s absolutely amazing”.”I’m just so grateful to the surgeons who’ve done this operation because her life would look very different without it.”Spina bifida, which affects about 1,500 pregnancies a year in the UK, prevents the spine and spinal cord developing properly.It can lead to paralysis, bowel, bladder and kidney problems.But if surgeons can operate at between 22 and 26 weeks of pregnancy, instead of after birth, it means a much better outcome for the baby.The procedure involves specialists from University College London Hospitals, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium. Thirty-two babies have undergone the procedure since January 2020.’Trail-blazing’Prof Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England, said it was just one example of the innovative treatments offered by the NHS.”As well as fighting a global pandemic, the NHS continues to develop and offer these trail-blazing services and continue to be there for patients.”Kate Steele, chief executive of Shine, which offers advice and support to families affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus, said: “We hope that every family who might benefit from foetal surgery is given the opportunity to find out whether surgery is right for them, and that they are supported by their local service, as Helena was.”Related Internet LinksSpina bifida – NHSShine – Spina Bifida & HydrocephalusGreat Ormond Street HospitalUniversity College London HospitalsUZ LeuvenThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.