Patient accuses benefits staff

A heart patient is considering lodging an official complaint against Benefits Agency staff after collapsing while trying to persuade them that he was unfit for work. Ralph Melville, 59, from Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, was taken by ambulance from the Newcastle upon Tyne office to hospital, where he spent two days being treated for the angina attack.

He blames the staff for the attack. the father-of-four claimed that while waiting outside for an ambulance, the agency representative told him: "Just because you are getting an ambulance and going to hospital, don't think you are getting away with your assessment. I will have you back here within a week or a fortnight for another assessment." An agency spokesman said: "We cannot comment on any individual case but if he is dissatisfied we have a complaints procedure and he can put in a complaint at his local office." Clare Garner