Thanks - I haven’t the papers at hand, but thought nowadays that a person holding an LPA can pass an access code on to an HMG department to validate the same. As you outline, I’m aware they don’t have open access. One thing I want to avoid is going down the route of having to get a ‘certified copy’.
There’s never been a claim for ‘carer’s allowance’ along the way, just ‘pension credit’ supplement AFAIK, plus latterly Attendance Allowance (due to worsening condition), and the hospitalisation and passage in to care has already been reported to DWP etc, and things (assumedly) actioned.
Looks like I have an extra commitment this coming week!
Yes I think you would be wise to make the time available, especially if you are going to get involved in any follow up stuff.
I’m not sure about this access code you mention though. I am an attorney under recently-granted LPAs for my brother and I don’t recall an access code, although there may well be a registration number. Similarly with my own LPAs where my wife and daughters are my attorneys.
IIRC, when the LPA is confirmed, the covering letter contains a code to enable the establishment of a central account (or somesuch), with password protection. The ‘code’ lasts for 12m, and is easy to request again if this timeline is missed.
If I recollect the mechanics correctly, the LPA holder can then (via the central account) enable access to other parties.
I must admit, when I first saw the LPA document(s) I was expecting to see something akin to a Probate Certificate, not the original papers simply mildly perforated/imprinted.
71 hours since cataract surgery and I can read number plates at 50 paces with my varifocals. The other eye on its own is rubbish still. I had to revert to 10+ year old bifocals to drive on the bad days. I get a sharp image at all distances now with the ‘new eye’. Over each of the last three days things have got better and better.
I’m surprised that the cataracts were behind this as I thought it was just old eyes. I thought dimming and glare at night were the usual symptoms. I did notice two stars rather than one on the rare clear nights.
Can’t wait to have the other one done.
9 days from seeing optician to surgery. Well done NHS and outsourced contractor.
It’s good to hear, but doesn’t surprise me. I had both of my eyes done in one afternoon late on in Covid. The surgeon only got limited theatre time and preferred to do straight forward eyes both on the same occasion. I reckon it was less than 24 hours for me to see normally although it took a few days to lose all the odd visual effects as things healed. I told him later that if I had had one done and had to wait for the second, I would have been ringing his secretary to try to hurry it up!
The eye drops regime for a month was quite a nuisance but you get used to it!
It seemed odd that with the varifocals the distance vision stopped working. The near was ok, but not as good as after new varifocals for the second time in a year. Less than two years ago the reason I switched to varifocals was that the near vision was only working for reading with bifocals!
I don’t mind waiting about 6 weeks (4 for checkup) as everything is much improved.
I had mine fixed over twenty years ago. One lens is long focus, the other short focus. Not perfect, the crossover point is at about PC screen distance. But haven’t worn glasses since. So, say, 9.8 out of 10. However, given the alternative, and 20 years on, there are no complaints from this quarter!
The distance vision depends on what power of lens the surgeon used. He should aim for infinity, but be sure not to go beyond infinity as it were (or to put it another way be sure that your vision does focus on a very far distance and not still be unfocused at that point).
If your distance vision was different before the operation, which it probably was, then the varifocal will be wrong now. He should have explained all this!
@davidhendon
Cataracts cause myopia where the distance vision goes blurry apparently, which is exactly my problem. They have fixed my non dominant eye. Maybe, I have been lucky enough to get a monofocal IOC (19.5D) that works well with the Hoya varifocals, which prioritised the near field. Astigmatism was also a problem.
My wife suddenly couldn’t see with one eye because of the cataract.
My wife had hers done a year before me and she had bad astigmatism in both eyes so had to pay for special lenses that correct that too. But my left eye has no astigmatism and my right eye has not a lot of astigmatism so I was able to have standard lenses that left the astigmatism alone.
The interesting thing is close up vision, because you lose your ability to accommodate as the plastic lens is fixed. It turns out that I can still accommodate a bit and I asked the surgeon, who is also an academic, how that could be.
He said it was a very interesting question and they had done some research where people who had this ability after cataract surgery were put in an MRI scanner and asked to do some eye accommodating type exercises. Unfortunately the research was inconclusive. But his best bet was that it was either or both of the lens being able to be moved slightly by the eye muscles and the brain being able to work with less than perfectly focused images.
They told me my astigmatism was mostly caused by the lens. I elected to take a chance and have a standard NHS job. There wasn’t any guarantee that I would not need glasses mostly for reading.
The cornea and eye itself can alway change the astigmatism in the future.
Mine was done privately but I still had a standard lens (well it might have been a better quality one but they didn’t try to play special tricks.)
My astigmatism ended up exactly the same as before the surgery. I told the surgeon that I wanted my sight to be arranged for optimum driving safety, so both eyes working together for distance driving) and that I was happy to use glasses for reading. He said the main alternative was to have one adjusted for distance and one for close up. Anyway I’m happy with my decision.
FYI, should you come across this general subject in other areas. It seems that due to Covid, and the inability to do home visits, the DWP (and perhaps other depts?) adopted a supportive approach of accepting instructions and general updates from 3rd parties - I assume they validated via common address? Anyhow, they’re now catching up on these visits, hence the wish to formalise things as best possible with validating ID and LPAs (which can be done via providing a code from the on-line a/c to them).
So, all good. and the very polite lady who came fully understood the caution exhibited.
Applied for an evening class. The registration process was gruesome. Way more information than they needed to know about someone interested in a bit of “Recreational welding”.
Inspired by viewing Michael Wood’s ‘In Search of the Dark Ages’ epidode on Ethelred the Unready, visited the Saxon church of St Lawrence from circa 1000 shown on the 1979 programme in Bradford-on-Avon today. It hasn’t changed much since the film was made and has a unique atmosphere.
Funny what you hear when earwigging. Walking past what I assumed was a grandfather and young grandson today. Grandfather says “Do you know what a record player is?” Yes said the grandson and “Do you know what a record is” I though I can see where is going.
Best overhearing was “We found him in a carpark in Bulgaria”
