OCD PIP review

griff11

I am appointee for my adult daughter.  She is currently in receipt until Nov 2024 of HR care & Std. Mobility for chronic OCD.

i had PIP review form a week ago which had to be returned by today as it had been delayed in post - letter dated end of March.  

As a review form it asked if anything had changed with regard to each activity.   For majority of questions I answered just no as she still has difficulties with same descriptors.  For a few relevant ones I wrote she'd had to move back home following a serious fall & fracture requiring surgery and needed me to shower & dress her for over 8 weeks but her ocd issues dominated why she found descriptors hard.

 In the additional information-2 typed pages , I  went in to more detail about why the temporary move home was now long term, they selling their home.  The impact on her  mental health WFH full time, alone all day etc. and putting her husband under enormous stress as he had to put her drinks, meds, breakfast & lunch out for her daily plus clean her workstation before he went to work.  I detailed her change of medication , why it was changed and side effects.  Some so serious they want her to reduce while she has support 24/7.   I also added in  her psychiatrist had now diagnosed her with PTSD due to impact of OCD & fall at home - the fall impacted her ability to scrub her hands at will - hugely traumatic for her .  How she could now leave the house with us when she hadn't for over 2 years but she needs so much support to do so.  Why they added anti psychotic medication etc, and how her employer made reasonable adjustments for her to the extent she will now go into the office one day a week if 2 specific persons in - 1 manager 1 colleague who know & understand her disability.   Her job is classed agile so she'll never be in office full time but it's very helpful for her to see them once a week in person, when she can do it.  A few weeks she hasn't been able to as prep to leave house too much.   She has full drivers licence but has driven 3 times in as many years.  Last time she had to park up and call hubby to come drive her car home so I detailed this plus a few other specific incidents around leaving the house.   My issue - the only new evidence was an up to date daily diary of how I support her.  They said not to send appointment letters.  She did receive a letter day after I posted form from CMHT to say she's on list for  online support group & they will let her know when she's top of list !  Yes it's been years but her psychiatrist chased recently.  She's been paying private therapists over the years but DWP had sight of all these letters with previous claim so I just put note that I'd previously sent this evidence which also included her DSA assessment & GP diagnosis.  I asked CMHT & they said they don't provide anything as she doesn't have dedicated MH nurse, she's just under psychiatrist but if DWP contact them they will detail her diagnosis, treatment etc. 

I'm now concerned I had no recent evidence or am I fretting unnecessarily? 

Sorry for long post.

Albus_Scope

hi @griff11 please dont apologise, there's really no need.

It's usually best to treat a review as a new application, so as long as you covered how her illness affects each of the descriptors, you should be fine.  It's less about proving a diagnosis and more about how you're affected. If that makes sense?  If you are concerned that you've missed anything out, you can always write again and send additional information.

griff11

Albus_Scope said:

hi @griff11 please dont apologise, there's really no need.

It's usually best to treat a review as a new application, so as long as you covered how her illness affects each of the descriptors, you should be fine.  It's less about proving a diagnosis and more about how you're affected. If that makes sense?  If you are concerned that you've missed anything out, you can always write again and send additional information.

Thank you. 😀

 It was 7 not 2 pages of additional information I provided which gave real life examples of what happens if she does attempt descriptor and how often she'll try as I understand I need to walk them through how OCD impacts her life,  I know from first time she applied - she's on second award, and I had to appeal a DM rang to ask a few questions and told me my personal statement was impactful and reason they awarded so I just updated this as there are changes.  

I know I need to park it for now as reviews are so delayed but. Did ring for confirmation it had been received and they said it's scanned onto their system.  

griff11

Just to update had a phone call out of the blue recently to ask if I was free to answer a few questions and full award made.

Jimm_Scope

You got your full award? Congrats @griff11 ! Great to hear 😁

griff11

Yes mobility increased to HR as now leaving house and I gave examples off the top of my head of what happens when we go out, support needed etc. They had read form fully judging by the questions.