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Hi, my name is Degs2021! I was bothered by a comment from the assessor

Degs2021

Hi all just hoping for some advice about cancer claims

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Ross_Alumni

Hi @Degs2021

Welcome to the community.

What benefit is this in relation to?

Degs2021

In 2013 I had my left kidney removed due to cancer.In 2015 I got pip and twelve months later I had an assessment at home to which I received no scores at all and told I was ok and didn’t need it.
In 2018 I woke up and went to the toilet to be met with what looked like black currant juice with clots.
my doctor booked me for a bladder scan which showed I had bladder cancer.
I was rushed in and had it removed and my bladder pumped with chemicals to kill of any remaining cells.on my follow up scan one of the scars was crushing over and I was rushed back in to have it scraped.
fast forward to June 2021 I had another scan and they noticed I had prostrate cancer and was rushed in and had it sliced of which they said they had to slice 4 times to get below it.In September 2021 i was back at the hospital for a scan and they have noticed a 1cm red spot on my bladder wall and around the entrance to my internal bladder a carpet looking tcc.
Now Iam waiting to go in and have biopsy’s taken and a lazer treatment done.In 2018 when I had bladder cancer the McMillan nurses told me it was an industrial type cancer normally seen in people who work in making rubber products.Has I worked has a tyre fitter for over twelve years I put in for industrial injuries and ended up at a tribunal and was refused cause I only worked on replacing and repairing rubber tyres and not making rubber.But my thing was I was still using the same chemicals to cut out sections of a wall on a wagon tyres And bonding new sections in.Now In June 2021 I applied again for pip and on the 6th of October had a phone assessment.
The assessment went well over the phone but one thing is bugging me.
At the end of the assessment the bloke said are you a red or a blue referring to Liverpool or Everton.I said red only and he said blood hell and we were doing so well has well.
Is this a trick or just banter.After what I’ve gone through and all the problems Iam having now if it was banter then I don’t think it funny.

Degs2021

Hi teddybear12 thanks for your kind comments I hope it was just banter

Degs2021

Also on top on top of the cancer.my doctors told me I have chronic kidney disease in my kidney.And I have had my left one out due to cancer.The hospital why doing scans noticed I have nodules on my lungs and a cist on my liver.
And the DWP still do an assessment they are a joke

Degs2021

I needed help seven years ago and now Iam having to wait to see if I can get some help with the extra expenses Iam having

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community I am sorry you are having trouble claiming pip and suffering from all your conditions

Have you got a claim at present

Pip isn't about a diagnosis or illness but about how the condition affects you against the descriptors

If you keep applying with the same info you are likely to get the same outcome

Have you tried to get any expert advice from welfare rights

poppy123456

Degs2021 said:

At the end of the assessment the bloke said are you a red or a blue referring to Liverpool or Everton.I said red only and he said blood hell and we were doing so well has well.
Is this a trick or just banter.After what I’ve gone through and all the problems Iam having now if it was banter then I don’t think it funny.

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear all of this. With regards to this comment here above ^^ it sounds like to me that the assessor was having just a little joke with you and meant nothing at all by this. Surely a little "banter" is ok every now and again, life would be rather dull without it that's for sure. Try not to take it to heart.

With regards to the assessments, most people have them when applying for benefits such as PIP. Paper based assessments are rare, although it can and does happen. The only time an assessment wouldn't be needed would be if a person is claiming through the DS1500 route, where life expectancy is 6 months or less.

All you can do is wait for the decision and if you're not happy then request the Mandatory Reconsideration. (MR)

chiarieds

Hi @Degs2021 - & welcome to the community. I can appreciate how you feel as regards this PIP assessment. At the start of my first PIP claim, my assessor made a derogatory comment about my profession, then said she was only 'joking.' I didn't think then, & don't think now, an assessment is an appropriate place to joke. Having said that, I think a light-hearted comment at the end of your assessment wasn't meant in a bad way; perhaps still inappropriate I can agree, but perhaps all the cancer problems you've had were very difficult for your assessor to listen to, & they were just trying to lighten the mood once your assessment was completed, as Teddybear12 also thought.

My best wishes, & do please stay in touch to let us know how you're getting on.

Degs2021

Hi Chiarieds thanks for your reply I just don’t trust them after the lies they told over my first pip assessment in 2014 when every thing on the DWP letter was completely different to what I had replied but at the time I was on the floor and never had the will to fight.Then on my industrial injuries claim they made it Inpossible to win by saying I had to work in making tyres and not replacing and repairing them even though the flies and chemicals are the same in both processes

Degs2021

Sorry glues and chemicals not flies lol

poppy123456

The assessment process isn't there for them to write what you say verbatim and there's so many people who think that they should write word for word. If they did there would be no need for the assessment in the first place. It's there for them to gather more evidence about how your conditions affect you. They then write the report which is their opinion of everything, which icludes your evidence, the PIP2 form and what you said during the assessment.

Can't advise about the IIDB because i have no knowledge of that.

Degs2021

Ok thanks poppy123356 I understand that but to ask the question am I red or blue then say o and we were doing so well until you said red dose he not understand how a cancer persons feeling are never mind what Iam going through and the feeling that football is the last thing on my mind # wrong time wrong place to be asking that question.
when a person is so low they think about ending their life and only thing stop it was me talking to my doctor and getting medication the last thing I need is him playing on my mind with his comments thanks derek

poppy123456

It sounds like a little bit of "banter" to me, you should try not to think of it as anything else and i'm sorry if you disagree with that. Laughing is a good thing, depsite what you've been through. At this moment in time, you really can't speculate anything.

Degs2021

We will see thanks poppy123456

Tori_Scope

It sounds as though you have a lot on your plate at the moment @Degs2021, so I can understand that this could have been anxiety-inducing. However, I agree that it seems as though it was most likely just a joke from the assessor.

You've mentioned that you've considered taking your own life, but that speaking to your doctor and going on some medication helped. Do you feel as though you're still receiving enough support for your mental health at the moment?

Degs2021

Hi tori yes Iam fine I have a large family that rallied round and support me when I was at my worst.I had very good help from my gp and contacts she give me.And at the moment Iam in a good place and hope to stay there.If things change I have plenty off contacts and family support to help me again thanks

Tori_Scope

That's good to hear @Degs2021

I was also sorry to read of your cancer diagnosis. Are you receiving enough support with that? It sounds as though you were in touch with Macmillan in the past- have you reached out to them again?

Degs2021

No I’ve not been in touch with them.
everything been happening so quickly and in between what’s going on with me and recovering from each operation.Ive also had the DWP to deal with and not received any help from them since they took my pip away in 2015.And at the moment Iam waiting for the appointment to have my next treatment once I have a date.Has for McMillan Iam not wasting my time with them anymore.In 2014 I went to see the nurse in the hospital to help me with a pip claim.And she give me the impression she was more interested in getting home and just said she doesn’t think I will get it.I faced it on my own and got it.In 2017 when I got bladder cancer the nurse in the hospital told me it’s was industrial disease cancer so I made a claim for industrial injuries benefits and contacted McMillan who put me forward to a so called specialist in cab when I meet him he took one look at the 197 pages of supporting paper work I’d put together to fight the case and basically made every excuse why he thinks he will waste his time but he never even looked at it he flicked the first 4 pages then fobed me off so now I just do things myself

poppy123456

To be honest 197 pages of evidence is an awful lot for someone to read. Less is often more.

Degs2021

In fact I was two weeks out of surgery and was having to get a train to town on my own to to a tribunal for my industrial injuries and was refused because I worked cutting out the walls off wagon tyres and bonding new sections in with glue and chemicals but the DWP instructor the tribunal that if I could not prove I work in making rubber to reject my case but the job I was doing was with same chemicals and glue you would use to make rubber they are a joke