Heart patient told to go on two hour trip to Leighton or lose his benefit

5:00pm Friday 3rd July 2009

Exclusive By Gina Bebbington

A MAN has been told to go on a complicated two-hour bus journey within weeks of a quadruple heart bypass operation or lose his sick benefit.

Barnton man Howard Platt had the invasive surgery on June 5 but is expected to undertake the journey to Crewe, involving seven changes, four walks and an overnight wait, on July 13, just five weeks after his operation.

The 62-year-old, of Leighs Brow, has been asked to go for assessment by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) but although his suggested bus journey is between 9pm and 11.30pm on July 13, his appointment is not until 9.40am the following day.

Howard’s wife Pam said: “This is a ludicrous itinerary and a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.

“The journey’s the night before, so what is he supposed to do? Stand and wait outside the medical centre?

“Someone has sat down and worked this journey out then posted it to us and it’s the likes of you and I that are paying for it.”

Howard only finished work in December when the company he worked for went into liquidation.

Pam said: “All his life he’s never had a day off sick, been on unemployment benefit or anything.

“It just shows that if you save money and look after yourself you get penalised and it’s just not on.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve paid all your National Insurance and never been out of work in your life.”

Howard received his first letter from the DWP on June 12, three days after his operation, asking him to make an appointment for assessment at the medical centre in Crewe.

Pam wrote back to explain he had just had surgery so could not travel but another letter, with the journey planner and notification of the July 14 appointment, dropped through the door on June 20.

Sue Reynolds, from Heart2Hearts, a heart support group affiliated to the British Heart Foundation, said: “I have to confess to being quite astonished by this – the usual time for recovery from a bypass operation being around three months.

“I am amazed, but unfortunately not surprised, at the Government’s expectation that someone should be expected to attend a medical assessment five weeks after such an invasive surgery as a quadruple heart bypass.”

She added: “I was quite horrified to hear about this poor man, who is undergoing quite enough trauma at the moment just dealing with the physical and emotional ramifications of his heart surgery, without this added stress.”