Sent PIP form in awaiting a date for assessment now in hospital

teddybear03

Hi, i was wondering if anyone could advise me, my aunt who has rheumatoid arthritis, diagnosed in 2005 has been waiting 10 months for a operation on her hip replacement which is 7 years old, the replacement was coming apart so we decided towards the end of September to make an application for PIP, something we had no idea about until i read an article about it, we filled in all of the information and provided some medical information, we have applied for her medical records, but there is a backlog on this, so anyway as i said she was awaiting an operation which was written on the form as we did not have a date, but a couple of weeks ago she was complaining of a rash on her leg and we got in touch with her GP who rang an ambulance when she was brought into A&E it was discovered that she had a severe infection in her leg caused by the hip, when eventually on a ward she was put on antibiotics and was told that she would need an operation to remove the hip replacement and have a temporary fitting in place, however she had the operation on Tuesday and the surgeon has inserted a new replacement but the bone further down the leg was so badly damaged a metal plate had to be inserted into her knee and it is unknown yet whether this will be it or if more surgery will be required, so she is currently still in hospital and hopefully this week she will come home, but what i would really like some help with is what should i do, as i said she has applied for PIP and got a text to say they have received her form and another one to say that they are going through her information and that she may need an assessment but we have not heard anything else, so do i need to get in touch with them and tell them about this, as when she comes home she will be non weight bearing and will still need the same amount of help that she was receiving when the form was filled in, also because she was brought into hospital it is a different surgeon that done the operation then the one that was written on the form, do i need to send this information in? sorry for the long post but if anyone could advise i would be grateful, thanks.

poppy123456

Any worsening of condition must be present for at least 3 months so at the moment you have nothing to report with regards to her health conditions.

If she’s in hospital for more than 28 days then this will affect her PIP if she’s awarded. This is because PIP stops after 28 days in hospital, the day you go in and come home doesn’t count. For this reason if she’s in longer than this then she will need to contact PIP to tell them. https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/hospital-and-benefits/benefits-that-stop-being-paid-if-you-go-into-hospital

I hope she recovers soon! 

teddybear03

Thank you so much for your reply and your wishes it has really helped as to what i need to do. 

Jimm_Scope

Hey @teddybear03, welcome to our community. I'm sorry to hear about your aunt, I do hope she recovers soon. I hope you get PIP sorted, even with the hospital stay. Let us know if you have any other questions that you're unsure about.