Entitlement for pip and medical evidence

alisha22

Got your assessment report yesterday from dwp. The assessor only marked me 15 points for mental health. My other health conditions were all scored at 0. So I was put in the esa support group based on my mental health and nothing else. I'm thinking when I get my ESA50 form they won't consider my other conditions and may not even consider my mental health either. Only God knows how they work.

alisha22

Also can you take esa to tribunal like with pip and would dwp try to wriggle their way out again like pip who offered me a award just before my tribunal hearing.

poppy123456

You were most likely placed into the Support Group with reg 35. Being placed into the support group isn't about scoring points.

Yes of course you can take it to Tribunal but the MR comes first. You should still try to relax a little, i know that's difficult but please do try as you haven't had the ESA50 form yet.

alisha22

Thanks poppy, I will try to relax only it's taken so much out of me trying to convince pip about my conditions etc and thinking about having to go through it again just depresses me. But I think I will try to put it at back of mind til beginning of next year.

Sob98

Hi everyone just looking some advise. I was was indefinite dla for 15 years and made the change from pip in January. I got awarded 4 points for both care and mobility in my face to face assessment in which the assessor has written a lot of things that weren’t true. I don’t have a lot of evidence as my conditions have been ongoing for 20+ years and I’ve been signed off from physios, OTs, awaiting neurological appointment and so on. My GP told me there was no need to contact them every time I have a seizure just to make a note of how frequent they have. I have sent an e mail to the appeals service regarding my appeal next week as I can’t wrote for any length of time cos of the pain in my hands. 
This is a copy of my letter. Just wondering what people’s thoughts are on the outcome 

Appeal date - 2/10/18

I am sending this letter to say why I am appealing my PIP decision. I can’t write for more than 2 mins without getting unbareable pains in my hand so sending it via e mail instead 

I am appealing as I feel I should at least be offered the normal rate for both care and mobility or perhaps even the enhanced rate of care. 

Without my family’s support who are with me 24 hours a day 7 days a week I wouldn’t be able to cope. I suffer from epilepsy which was well controlled up until the start of December 2017. Now I suffer small seizures practically every week. I get no warning when a seizure is going to happen which is the scary thing for me. One minute I could be reading a book on the sofa with my daughter sat beside me and the next I take a seizure which normally lasts from 30secs to 2 mins. I am petrified I don’t know when a seizure will take place. After suffering a seizure something happens your body that only someone who suffers from epilepsy would understand. You feel as though your limbs are made from lead they’re so heavy to lift, you are forgetful, have a fog that kind of descends on you brain that last for a couple of days. No recollection of taking a seizure other than waking up with someone watching over you asking are you alright and all you can think is not again seriously please.  

I zone out several times a day from 10 seconds to a minute which can be dangerous if I’m in a room by myself. I don’t know I’m doing it either. This along with the lump I have on my foot which is also attached to a nerve is one of the main reasons I don’t go outside anywhere. I don’t go anywhere by myself someone is always in a car park waiting or with me. I’m petrified that I will take a seizure while I’m out or people will look at me limping. One of my biggest fears is taking a seizure in the bath and drowning or the shower and banging my head so thank goodness I always have at least one person in the house with me who’s assisted me to get undressed to wash incase this may happen. I am still awaiting my appointment with the neurologist despite ringing numerous times to see if I’m anywhere near the top of the waiting list but unfortunately the list is very long. 

The consultant I saw about the lump on my foot and the one in beneath the skin on my right hand has referred me for surgery but there’s a risk the nerve could be damaged in my foot. As the lump is so painful I struggle to walk about 100m at a time without having to have a rest the pain is really that bad. 

I constantly need reassurance to go somewhere new even with my family. I can’t deal with strange places, crowds of people, unfamiliar surroundings and things like that. It makes me feel so so panicked that something is going to happen me and I wouldn’t know where I am. I feel really insecure about this so anywhere new or unfamiliar that I go takes a lot of planning and persuading from my family. I get really disoriented in strange places so I very rarely leave the house. 

I do get really down about not being a proper Mammy to my children and that I can’t do anything for them by myself without the help of my family but I really can’t do anything to change this with my conditions. 

I have 2 very painful wrists. My left one has been operated on many times and as such I have no feeling in 2 of my fingers and the side of my hand. I wear a splint every day for support and because I have muscle loss in the arm. I can’t do anything with this arm with the pain I experience 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The weakness means it is more or less useless as I can’t even lift a pint of milk with it. My right arm also has nerve damage as a result of getting a ganglion removed several years ago. The ganglion was deep and resulted in the nerves in the middle of my hand and 2 fingers also being damaged. I have very little power in this arm also. 

As a result of this and the danger with my epilepsy I cannot prepare or cook a meal at all by myself. Either my mother, son or sister prepare and cook all my meals for me. I can’t peel potatoes/veg, lift saucepans, the kettle any thing like that that is heavy. If I attempted to lift a boiling saucepan off the cooker I would end up roasting myself as it would land on the floor or worse I could take a seizure during this. I also can’t use a tin opener, open a sealed bottle or anything like that. I don’t have the strength to pull a ring top on a can to open it, I use a straw to drink my cans of coke when someone opens them for me as some days I couldn’t even lift can. 

Once my family have a meal prepared for me they then may have to cut my dinner into bite size pieces depending on what was being made. Things like chicken fillets , roast dinners, pork chops for example are difficult for me to cut with a knife and fork. 

I can’t lift the dinner plate from the bench to the table cos my hand goes into spasm and also with the weakness in my arms I drop the plate so even pre preparing dinner for me isn’t an option as I can’t lift a plate from the microwave. 

My mother washes and dries my hair for me every couple of days. She also brushes and ties it up for me every morning. I can’t lift my arms to do this without it causing me severe pain. The same when it comes to taking tops off from the top half of my body I need assistance to do that. The nerve pain is so intense. Mammy also assists me in getting dressed in the morning. She buttons and zips whatever clothes I need fastened, closes my belt, laces my shoes and when anything needs undone should it be my trousers to go to the toilet or change into my jammies at night her or someone else if always there to help me. 

I am unable to open child proof bottles, take tablets out of blister packs so without someone sorting my medication into a weekly pill box and leaving the box open in a high cupboard I wouldn’t be able to take my medication. I have alarms set on my phone as reminders as to when I need to take them because of the short term memory problems I have after a seizure. 

On top of all this I suffer from debilitating migraines. I suffer these at least 2/3 times aweek and have gotten worse since my seizures have gotten more frequent. These migraines leave me with double vision, dizziness, vomiting and a sensitivity to lights. There’s always a fear when I’ve a migraine that there’s more chance of a seizure occurring. Some days when they’re really bad I spend the day in bed as I can’t make it out of bed through no fault of my own. 

I hope you consider all these points I have made as I really feel I deserve a PIP award of some kind. Living with my disabilities isn’t easy at all and yes if I’m honest most days I’m really down and annoyed with the hand I have been dealt in life. As you can see without the help of my mother, sister and son I honestly wouldn’t be able to cope day to day with the illnesses I suffer from. My mother really is an angel in disguise and no matter how sore or down I feel she tries her hardest to put a smile on my face. 

As my Mammy is looking after my daughter, my sister has to work and my son is at uni I have had no option but plan to come to the appeal myself. My father will be waiting for me in the carpark but as he’s a COPD sufferer he will be unable to walk the distance into the court with me. This alone is causing me a lot of stress at present having to come to a strange place by myself by I know it is essential to get my claim sorted. 

Thank you for reading this and hopefully considering all my points. 

alisha22

Hello everyone, I'm sorry for repeating myself but I'm a bit confused as I now am being told for esa reassessment, if decision goes against you as well as the mandatory decision, we then no longer can take this further. I know I'm a long away from my reassessment  (it's not till March 2019) but I hear it's getting tougher and hard to get back into the esa support group again. Please correct.

alisha22

I was put in the esa support group for my mental health and have home treatment,I've got a support worker and and regular checks etc. But when u hear esa are now even tougher it's a bit scary.

poppy123456

Hi,

When you're re-assessed, which can be anytime for ESA, if the worst happens and you're found fit for work then yes you can ask for the MR and if that fails (most do) then Tribunal after this. Whoever told you that you can't take it to Tribunal after a failed MR is incorrect.

ESA is just as difficult as it always was, they haven't made it harder. Hope this helps.

alisha22

Thanks poppy as always, it's just so stressful especially when I just got awarded pip just before the hearing where by dwp decided I was entitled after turning me down. I know pip and esa are two separate benefits but surely they can see it was dwp who are the ones who try to avoid tribunals and put in offers of some sort of award. But anyhow. Are we allowed to take our support worker to the assessment if I'm called that is.

poppy123456

Yes you can take someone with you to an assessment but you'll have to answer the questions yourself.

Yadnad

alisha22 said:

Thanks poppy as always, it's just so stressful especially when I just got awarded pip just before the hearing where by dwp decided I was entitled after turning me down. I know pip and esa are two separate benefits but surely they can see it was dwp who are the ones who try to avoid tribunals and put in offers of some sort of award. But anyhow. Are we allowed to take our support worker to the assessment if I'm called that is.

I have an indefinite award from the DWP dated 2011 -  Industrial Injuries Benefit running at the 40% rate which basically means a 40% loss of mental function. 

This relates entirely to mental health issues - PTSD, Depression and a brain injury.

The assessor and the DWP both agreed when assessing for PIP that I do not have any mental health issues that impact on my life. despite  me forwarding the last DWP assessment report for IIB dated 2011 that said I did.

I gave up after that after the DWP failed to accept their own assessment report.
   

alisha22

Yadnad I'm sorry to hear that dwp refused to accept their assessment report. You should really not give up. Please persevere and eventually your voice will get heard.

alisha22

Dwp don't want to go down the tribunal road so they are shamefully offering some award.

Yadnad

alisha22 said:

Yadnad I'm sorry to hear that dwp refused to accept their assessment report. You should really not give up. Please persevere and eventually your voice will get heard.

As I have said before, I didn't want to give up but it was my health or fighting the DWP for the 3rd time in 5 years. Health was more important.
However if I could have found someone to fight for me - a rep or WRO then I would have gladly let them take it on. As this was about 5 months ago and being far too old at 70 to ever claim PIP again, things have had to move on.

debbiedo49

Yadnad said:

Lucysam25 said:

Hi everyone a bit confused how long do i say how far  i a can walk from getting up from my chair in the living room to the passage to front door stepping out of the door to  witch is about four steps with my walking stick to the car please help i can't walk any further  confused 

err have you not got a tape measure?

@yadnad that’s come just rude!

Yadnad

The question raised by the poster was asking how far is it from their chair to the passage to their front door - about 4 steps?

Obviously the answer is - have you not measured it with a tap measure - hence the question have they not got a tape measure.

alisha22

Can anyone tell me as I'm in the esa support group and when I have my reassessment and it goes to the stage of the mandatory decision, do I still get esa support group award or is it reduced whilst waiting for the MR.

alisha22

Sorry people but I have another question. As  I have mental health problems and getting support from the nurses etc, would they be able to write on my behalf to dwp before my reassessment and tell them about my issues etc and let them decided if I need one or not. I'm only asking as my niece who got her community mental health nurse to support her and dwp wrote to her saying she is exempt from reassessment.

poppy123456

When you are re-assessed if the decision is WRAG then you'll be paid WRAG amount while waiting for the MR decision. If you're found fit for work your ESA completely stops and you won't be paid anything while waiting for the MR.

When the forms are sent to you, you can ask anyone to write you a letter as evidence to send with the completed forms when you send them.

poppy123456

You'll still need to be re-assessed at some point, whether it will be paper assessment or face 2 face assessment will depend at the time.  Sending a letter in before they send you the ESA50 form won't help.