[mitch]

several months ago i submitted an application for a further condition to veterans uk.

i currently get wpms for damage to my knees.

18 months ago they discovered osteoarthiritis in my neck and lower back and to add insult a disc popped out and started playng merry hell with the sciatic nerve.

after talking to the medics etc as my life post army has been pretty sedentary we concluded the damage must have been done back then so submitted the forms.

today i get a letter saying they need me to have a medical examination, never been asked to do this before theyve always worked off medical records etc so this is new to me.

any of our wpms contributors any advice or insights?

Topic

[joss]

By the looks of things Mitch, wpms is similar to industrial injuries benefit. I know that if claiming the latter and you report a change of circumstances, that your injury has become worse. You may well be called to a medical to establish how much worse your condition has become.

Have a read through this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/war-pension-scheme-mobility-supplement-wpms#changes-in-circumstances

also seek more qualified advice from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/veterans-uk-contact-us

I claim Industrial injuries for my knees and am about to report a change in circumstances as they have got worse.

 

Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
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[Wayne M]

Hi Mitch l requested a re check on my war pension due to further medical complications. They said l had to have medical and l could gave the Dr come to my home if required. He was there about 30mins asked a few questions. Final decision in my favour but took about 8 months to come through.

[mitch]

thanks guys, yes i wasnt expecting it to be a quick process wayne m it took nearly 3 years last time with appeals,tribunals etc.

i suppose with xrays, mri’s etc on file i thought this time it may be a bit more straightforward obviously not hayho. they have said it will be local so i will wait to hear.

i will warm up the RBL they assisted last time and were a great help so i will give them a ring on monday.

 

 

[Wayne M]

Hi Mitch, yes using a military charity is good advice l got lots of help on mine with Blesma who filled in the forms for me.

[Brian Hindmarch]

When I had a review medical was done by a Col, RAMC, great bloke and got my pension increased subsequently.

[BigDave]

Mitch,

Sorry, just seen your post – have been away for a few days.

Generally, it shouldn’t be anything to worry about and I have known medical examinations to be required in a lot of ‘further condition’ cases, particularly those relating to musculoskeletal injuries/conditions.

The cynic in me also thinks the Medical Department at Norcross are trying to justify their existence by requesting medical examinations (it is the Medico’s at Norcross who make the decisions, not lay decision makers in War Pension cases – unlike AFCS cases where lay decision makers decide).  As the number of War Pension cases decline due to the age of the cohort, they have to justify their continued existance!

The major thing to be aware of is ‘deterioration due solely to age’ as that is not considered in any ‘further condition’ or ‘deterioration’ claims.

Dave

[mitch]

thanks bigdave, i suppose that could be the possible debateable point is it just due to old age or can it be traced back to service. my argument would be that post army my life has been fairly sedentary whereas in the army the reverse was true i played every sport going and although i was a support corps RAPC i did do everything the units i served with did and more in some cases. i played rugby to corps level so that may be a factor (front row). i suppose as i cant present a single incident that caused it i would be in a stronger position if there had been an accident or something.

[mitch]

the only incidents i can point to are a car crash in germany we were rear ended and i had a mild case of whiplash and one particular co had us doing a weekly cft with full kit and weapon and bft on mon,wed,fri.he was ex sas and thought we had to be up to their standards and he and the medical officer got censured as they colluded to keep people running even when injured.

thats what caused my knee issues. we think the antiinflamatories i took all these years hid the spine issues and it was only when they were stopped after my heart attack that they became an issue.

oh and i got hit by a bomb blast in n ireland but was ok, i was well away from it and just got knocked over and was deaf for a bit.

[Saintsman]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’m applying for a review at the moment, I’m only on 30% so don’t get the mobility component as my arthritis was deemed to be non service related. My other injuries have gotten worse hence my review application. Hoping it all goes smoothly and I can get off pip.</p>
I did get a visit from a doctor when I first made my application many years ago, it was a quick examination, around 20 mins, followed by two cups of tea and a further hour discussing rugby, especially Northampton Saints, it turned out he was the grandson of Edgar Mobbs a former captain of Saints and England who was killed at Ieper and has his name on the Menin Gate.

[mitch]

i started off on 19% when i was first discharged. naieve idiot that i was didnt realise that they park you on that for as long as possible as all you get is the initial lump sum i think it was about £2k it was only 4 years later that i found out that 20% gets you the weekly pension, purely by chance chatting to a bloke at the rugby at twickenham he turned out to work for the legion welfare service. so a reveiw was asked for and it went straight up to 32%. a few years later things got worse and they did their usual trick and tried to park it at 39% suprise .

anyway i decided to appeal and that went to tribunal and dragged on for 2 and a half years. but fair does the tribunal took less than 10 minutes to come out and set it at 48% which  is where we are today.mind at least they back date it to when you start your reveiw application so it was backdated nearly 3 yrs in all.that was nice.

[BigDave]

mitch wrote:

the only incidents i can point to are a car crash in germany we were rear ended and i had a mild case of whiplash and one particular co had us doing a weekly cft with full kit and weapon and bft on mon,wed,fri.he was ex sas and thought we had to be up to their standards and he and the medical officer got censured as they colluded to keep people running even when injured. thats what caused my knee issues. we think the antiinflamatories i took all these years hid the spine issues and it was only when they were stopped after my heart attack that they became an issue. oh and i got hit by a bomb blast in n ireland but was ok, i was well away from it and just got knocked over and was deaf for a bit.

Mitch,

Although probably a bit late, did you ever submit a subject access request for your medical docs from the MOD?. It should show whenever you visited a MO and what for.  Plus the treatment you were given.

They used to hand out Brufen and other nsaids like Smarties in the 80’s and 90’s and they covered up a multitude of injuries. In order to carry on with with normal duties, many people got more or less hooked on them and took them for years which isn’t what they recommend nowadays. Veterans UK are aware of this though.

Most further condition review cases do go through fairly routinely though, so don’t worry too much about it. It is just the (very) odd one that gets knocked back, but do get one of the ex-service organisations on board should this happen.

Dave

[mitch]

bigdave thats me in a nutshell, early 80’s a mad co had us doing bft’s on mon,wed,fri and a cft on tuesday these were the days of it all being done in full kit boots,packs etc now of course its all trainers etc.

anyway if you went to the medical officer he simply gave you ibuprofen and told you to carry on.then the real crippler came in when they introduced the mk1 combat high boot that just destroyed my knees. even after i had 2 operations on my knees he and the med off passed me fit for remedial excercise.

joy of joys i ended up with that guy as a commander again 4 years later. effectively i was on nsaids from 82 until 2018 when i had a heart attack which they put down to taking them for so long and we think they hid the spine problems as they appeared as soon as they were stopped.

 

[Saintsman]

@mitch

Another rugby man ?, I was at Twickenham on Saturday for the Wales match, probably the only person there in a Scotland shirt.

[mitch]

lol, yes i used to go to a lot of 6n matches and the army/navy.

played to quite a good standard back in the day, went to all englands games in the 2007 world cup in france.

that was fun i bought a package early doors right through to the final and esp after they lost to s africa in the group everyone gave me greif for being an idiot. i had the last laugh though when they got to the final.

been to all the 6n grounds particularly enjoy dublin and rome nice weekend trips. edinburgh like this season you need to be prepared for 4 seasons in an hour can be a bit bleak.

wish i could do it again.

thats the beauty of rugby though doesnt matter who you support ive never had any bother at a match.

[Saintsman]

I went to a 8 matches in 2015 including “lesser” ones like Japan v Samoa and QF/SF.

Watched Scotland v USA at Elland Road, the Leeds UTD stewards couldn’t believe that it was all mixed seating and couldn’t understand why there were England/NZ/Australian etc supporters at the game.

I’m not a huge fan of internationals but love the game and travel all over the place to watch Saints, had a trip to Lyon in January, last year I drove to Heidelberg to watch Samoa v Germany just because we had one Saints player playing.

[mitch]

its quite amusing when they hold games at round ball stadiums the police and stewards cant beleive everyone sits together and has a drink and theres no aggro.

i think it was lille in 2007 we had an issue but that was purely heavy handed policing, they went at it the same way they did for soccer and went piling into bars and areas where supporters were mixing insisting on seperating people. they deployed tear gas and allsorts. the wru went mad and threatened to move the games from the city,the mayor had to apologise. on the day of the match the police couldnt beleive it when there was no issues. on the way back to the hotel after the match there were literally thousands of police stood around in one of the local car parks with all their riot gear piled up waiting for transport to pick them up.

ive got a picture somewhere it must have cost the city thousands to have all these guys sat in a car park twiddling their thumbs all day.

[Author]

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