Hi, my name is Moga!

Moga

🤘Hi there, I'm new here. I moved from DLA (highest rate) to PIP about five years ago. I was initially awarded zero points, but won my PIP appeal last year and received the highest rate for mobility and daily living. I am getting PIP for physical and mental health disabilities. Last week, I had a telephone assessment with Capita for my PIP Award Review. I was much better prepared this time, and I also managed their interrogation interview quite well. I am determined to take them to court again should my award be reduced or cancelled. During my telephone assessment the assessor intrusively asked me about sucidal ideation. Apart from the typical question "And why haven't you killed yourself yet?", she also asked me if I had a specific plan, and how I would kill myself. [Details removed by moderator], but had no intention to kill myself at the moment. She then sternly asked me to give consent to share this information with my doctor - but I said "NO!" About 10 minutes after my assessment, I suddenly received a phone call from my GP who told me that Capita's assessor had phoned her to reveal that [Details removed by moderator]. I refused to say anything about it as I felt that the assessor had breached confidentiality. Prior to my assessment, I gave DWP permission to contact my doctors and check my health records. But I did not give my Capita assessor permission to reveal confidential information to my doctor. Does anybody know if that was right? Has anybody similar experiences?

MarkM88

Welcome. 

Firstly, just for clarity, as I mentioned on another thread, it’s not a court, it’s a tribunal, totally different. 

Secondly, yes, under certain circumstances they can break confidentiality, and on this occasion it was the right thing to do as they had a safeguarding concern. 

poppy123456

HI,

I completely agree with Mark here, they were using their own judgemen and contacted your GP for your safety, which was absolutely the right thing to do. I see nothing wrong here at all.

Alex_Alumni

Hello @Moga and welcome to the community. Thanks for sharing your experiences today. I'm pleased to hear you had a successful PIP appeal last year. 

I would echo our members, your assessor was likely to be following safeguarding procedures in this case, to help make sure that you can the right help and support when you need it.

I've edited your post slightly to remove some of the information which might be triggering to other members, I hope that's okay. 

Since you've mentioned experiencing suicidal feelings I wanted to share some organisations you can go to for help if you need to. You can call Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org, the mental health charity Mind also has some really clear advice on how to support yourself.

If you do ever feel in any immediate danger then please call 999 or head to your local hospital right away.

Can I ask what support you're receiving at the moment, do you feel you're getting enough support?

Let us know if there's anything you feel we can help with, don't hesitate to ask and I hope you enjoy looking around the forum.

Alex