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Assessment not so bad - over in 30 minutes!

Gaina

Hi All,

I had my assessment this morning and it went about as well as it could have. ?

The assessor was a physiotherapist and very nice - she kept apologising because the computer was instructing her to ask the same question in different ways! She explained that she had a set form to work to and obviously understood the reality behind the answers I gave. I used to work for what is now the DWP so I told her I understood the frustration.

I was polite and answered all her questions honestly without saying anything that could be misconstrued by the DWP. The whole thing was over in 30 minutes.

I'll ring and ask for the report tomorrow and expect a verdict in about 4 weeks. ?

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Comments

[Deleted User]

Don't be taken in it will be misconstrued wait till you get your report don't be fooled by them

Gaina

jim1074 said:

Don't be taken in it will be misconstrued wait till you get your report don't be fooled by them

Oh, trust me, I kept my wits about me. Like I said, I used to work for what is now the DWP and therefore 'not as green as I am cabbage-looking' as the saying goes. *wink*.

[Deleted User]

Well wait and see then get back to me

susan48

@Gaina, glad you’v got the assessment over with and fingers crossed it’s what your hoping for

Matilda

@Gaina

I'm pleased that the assessment went well.

I didn't realise that the computer prompted assessors with questions.

Gaina

Matilda said:

@Gaina

I'm pleased that the assessment went well.

I didn't realise that the computer prompted assessors with questions.

Yes, I could see the screen and the drop down menus she had to use. I'm a bit of a computer geeek but I think even I would have become very frustrated with that software!

wilko

@Gaina, happy for you that your acessment went well and you where able to see the cumputer screen drop down menus. Many if not most of us had no idea this is how the acessor is promted to ask so many different questions about a what should be a simple yes or no answer. By asking so many questions about one subject matter they can built, get a better idea of your abilities of doing or managing different situations in your daily living activities. Thus allowing them to give a lower point score where possible just on maybe asking or recording your answer in a different way format. Thanks for your input and keep us all updated and please keep posting.

markyboy

I hope it is as straight forward as you say but i have had 3 assessments and they were all lovely people and when you get the report you wonder if they have sent you someone else's report as everything you said has been turned around and if you can only manage to walk 3 metres at the assessment that is converted to 50 metres in the report

Gaina

wilko said:

@Gaina, happy for you that your acessment went well and you where able to see the cumputer screen drop down menus. Many if not most of us had no idea this is how the acessor is promted to ask so many different questions about a what should be a simple yes or no answer. By asking so many questions about one subject matter they can built, get a better idea of your abilities of doing or managing different situations in your daily living activities. Thus allowing them to give a lower point score where possible just on maybe asking or recording your answer in a different way format. Thanks for your input and keep us all updated and please keep posting.

I'll definitely keep ypu updated. I did get the impression she was more open than other assessors probably are. I'm glad I got a physiotherapist as they spend all day every day seeing how people actually move and so probably have a more detailed knowledge of how disability affects people than say a nurse or paramedic.

sam12

They not physio people. They not medically trained from what I heard

debbiedo49

Good luck

[Deleted User]

You are spot on

Gaina

sam12 said:

They not physio people. They not medically trained from what I heard

They do have to spend at least three years doing an MSc in physiotherapy, though which gives them an understanding of *how* the body actually functions day-to-day and how certain health conditions affect that, which is far more of an idea than a paramedic has. And these assessments are about how your condition affects you day-to-day. I do, however think there should be more GP's and mental health specialists doing these assessments, maybe with an extra consultation with a PT for cases like mine (Spina Bifida).

Gaina

Username_removed said:

They do not have medical training in the sense of being a doctor or nurse but they are certainly trained and are Physio Nystagmus, OTs, paramedics and so on.

The software is an adaptation of American insurance software and is not fit for purpose in my view. For example it does not allow you to select more than one descriptor under an activity and add up the percentages if they come to more than 50% of the time.

At the risk of adding to the negativity in nearly 5 years I’ve yet to come across anyone who had an okay assessment and scored the points they anticipated.

Oh, the paper form is a ruddy nightmare compared to the old DLA form! That's why I wrote as much as I could in the boxes provided at the end of each section for additional information.

As far as the software goes, the English man who was given the task of modifying it for the PIP assessments told them it wasn't ready to be rolled out, but was totally ignored.

I have a friend with much more complex needs than me and she was a great help in preparing me for the assessment and she got the result she expected (and was happy about it) so I followed her advice, so we'll see what happens. If it doesn't go my way? I'll just make myself a pain in the **se til I get what I need.

Gaina

Thanks @debbiedo49

Matilda

@Gaina

While, unfortunately, many find that their assessment reports were not accurate, it is far from all doom and gloom. Several people have reported on the forum that their assessments were straightforward, reports fair and awards in line with what they expected.

Gaina

Matilda said:

@Gaina

While, unfortunately, many find that their assessment reports were not accurate, it is far from all doom and gloom. Several people have reported on the forum that their assessments were straightforward, reports fair and awards in line with what they expected.

Indeed. There are serious failings that need to be addressed urgently but for peole new to the process I agree it's important to balance out the pitfalls with the positive. ?

Yadnad

Gaina said:

Yes, I could see the screen and the drop down menus she had to use.

Strange.
It was suggested many moons ago in a PIP review that the claimant be allowed to see the screen and to sit side by side with the assessor.

The DWP & the assessing companies refused to implement this as they considered it a safety problem for the assessor. You should not be able to see the screen just the backside of the computer monitor.

debbiedo49

@Yadnad when I had my pip assessment the person sat side on the me and my rep and my rep was able to read over their shoulder what they were typing. Obviously they couldn’t confer with me about it but afterwards told me. The assessor was on the same side of desk as us. I think it depends on the space you get. I did ask the assessor to read back to me what she was writing as she kept saying is that correct? She did not read it back but merely paused and said I will read it back at the end. At the end she did not read it back. If she had said will you sign this document at the end, I would have refused without being able to read it back. Between there and the decision maker parts of the assessment answers were left out which led to misleading calculation of points to be awarded. The assessor couldn’t have been any nicer apart from the not reading back part. But having been through esa I didn’t get my hopes up and it was just as well.

Gaina

Yadnad said:

Gaina said:

Yes, I could see the screen and the drop down menus she had to use.

Strange.
It was suggested many moons ago in a PIP review that the claimant be allowed to see the screen and to sit side by side with the assessor.

The DWP & the assessing companies refused to implement this as they considered it a safety problem for the assessor. You should not be able to see the screen just the backside of the computer monitor.

It did say on my info leaflet that the assessor would either sit opposite or beside me. I was in my wheelchair though, so I would have been able to purposefully angle myself to see the screen if I wanted to.