in newcastle, fiona alexander works for the department for work and pensions. chronic back pain and a serious heart condition, fiona was proud to be holding down a governmentjob. after the heart—attack, and the other issues i've got, could be a stay—at—home person, but i'm not like that. i want to be out there, i want to be working, i want to be productive in society. i don't want to be a drain. for more than three years, fiona was happy with her deskjob at the dwp. then came a restructure, and fiona was moved to a more physically demanding role. she began to worry about what effect this newjob could have on her health. so her managers arranged for fiona to have an occupational health assessment. the occupational health referral team said that it was too physical for me, and i should have a desk—based job. this was ignored, so i still carried on and i ended up getting sciatica. two years ago, fiona was prescribed strong painkillers for her sciatica, and her doctors warned her about the side effects of the drug, in particular, drowsiness and confusion. in the mor