Having Power of Attorney for someone is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good to be able to try to sort out a loved one’s affairs on their behalf and make decisions that affect their future lives when they can’t make those decisions themselves. It is a bad thing when the power doesn’t work or when there’s a shed load of work (bureaucracy) to make it work.
With Power of Attorney for my mother I’ve been able to assert that she shouldn’t be admitted to hospital anymore. No matter what happens to her. That has the support of my siblings, and now there’s an end-of-life care plan in place it should be respected by her carers, visiting clinicians and the ambulance service. It takes a lot to achieve these arrangements. The last time she ‘took bad’ I ended up phoning up ambulance control as I was so cross a demented old bat had been carted from her care home to a hospital. The carers had implored the crew to phone her kids first. She’d been in and out of hospitals all year, miraculously hadn’t caught Covid in any of them, and it was clear to all there was nothing anyone could do to restore her health.
However, though she had a Do Not Attempt CPR instruction in place she was breathing and she had a pulse. She just wasn’t very conscious (due, we surmise, to a mini-stroke). Without an end-of-life care plan in place the crew felt they had to convey her to hospital, rather than call any of her children, who would have said, leave her there. I don’t blame that crew. I’ve worked with paramedics and despite being amazing clinicians who you really want by your side when you’re having a heart attack or bleeding to death from an RTA, they have to practice defensively, for fear of being berated by their managers or complained about and sued by their patients.
Fortunately, she only endured an overnight stay on an acute medical assessment unit and, on discharge, anticipatory medication, a DS1500 and other paperwork was completed. I think that last time she might have even avoided yet another CT head to try and establish whether there was anything treatable. With a long history of dementia, diabetes, hypertension and previous strokes it was very unlikely. She wasn’t even well enough to have the same old joke that the CT found “nothing in her head” and it was so unlikely there’d be anything treatable, these scans should be prioritised for those who may actually benefit from an intervention.
For a long time we children kept her flat rental going. Some ten years ago we saw her bounce back from what was then a bereavement related pseudo-dementia and live independently again for several years. Out gut feeling was this wouldn’t happen this time, but we gave her the benefit of the doubt.
My brother initiated attempts to buy her flat from her landlord. That would have saved us a lot of hassle clearing out what remained of the lifetime of “junk” mixed in with a few sentimental trinkets, that we’d moved from the family home some years before, but, it wasn’t to be. She didn’t improve. The freeholder company were such an unprofessional and untrustworthy outfit the purchase fell through. We gave back the keys to the agents and the “junk”, we could, to charity shops. Clearing out other people’s belongings is one of the most soul-destroying tasks I’ve ever had to do, and for my sins, I have to do it too many times now. Please, get rid of your junk while you still can. You created it, you deal with it. Don’t leave it to others.
With the flat given up, I realised I needed to start telling organisations that I had Power of Attorney and they should now send all correspondence to me. Some are organisations, are organised. My mother was a teacher and Teachers Pensions responded quickly and informed me they would accept an ‘access code’ from the Office of the Public Guardian website as evidence of my ‘power’. It was quick and easy. I just have to log into my account on that government website and request a code. I can them give it to recipient organisations over the phone, by letter or email. That one was sorted in less than half an hour all told.
Other organisations are not so organised. Aviva wrote back to me with a long standard letter asking me to send in the original Power of Attorney document (like, I’d ever do that!) or a certified copy. To get a certified copy I’d have to go to a registered professional – typically a solicitor, and ask them to copy the 15 pages of the original, stamp and sign each page and pay them for their time. Then that would have to be sent, with certified copies of my identification – driving license, utility bill and be sent by registered post – I’m only going to do this once for each organisation – and then wait. In all that would probably take me at least an hour, plus some driving, plus a whole load of unnecessary cost both financial and environmental, and some waiting. It almost felt like I was dealing with the NHS.
So, angry was I that a big commercial organisation like Aviva didn’t even mention the online access codes in their correspondence I gave them a ring – just to check. I was told they didn’t and so I asked how to complain. I was put through to the complaints department, told them the situation, in I hope, a reasonably calm manner and asked for the CEO’s email address. My complaint might be acknowledged but it seemed it wouldn’t have sped up the registering of my power with Aviva and I dreaded the number of other organisations this bureaucracy would be repeated with.
Supping a cuppa after that call to Aviva, you can imagine my delight when they called back to tell me that their paperwork was wrong, their internal scripts for call centre staff and the complaints team were wrong and that they could indeed accept the official access codes, register my power and my address, after all.
I gave them a code and was told they would respond to my complaint the following week. Today they have done so, and hey, Sebastian – well done. Aviva acknowledge the power is with me (if only), the correspondence address has been changed and they’re sending me £75 for my trouble! Now Sebastian, I’m going to tell the CEO you did your job well. I hope you get employee of the month or a bonus, if Aviva indulge staff in such things. In the NHS hospital staff get a free hot meal for having a flu jab (8am – 6pm only) or a Star badge if we’ve been especially good.
If you need to register a Power of Attorney with Aviva I can’t tell you how long it will take Aviva to change their processes though they tell me they’ve made some changes already. In the meantime, don’t take their omission of any mention of access codes as fact and phone up Sebastian. For all, who apply to Aviva in the future to register your Power of Attorney, enjoy giving them an official access code and thank the ‘Victor Meldrew’ trait in me that means I cannot tolerate administrative bullshit. As a GP and an NHS clinical commissioner, I’m an expert in that.
ShaunOConnell.com 