Pip Telephone assessment

harri73

Hello, Thank you for allowing me to join the group.
I have had my telephone assessment nearly 2 weeks ago, I am very worried that i was only kept on the phone for 23mins. My anxiety was through the roof and I did have a few tears due to this and the pain im in, but I am concerned that it was such a short assessment. I also didnt have any medical evidence to send in with my original form due to having not been given a repeat prescription for pain relief from my dr and I was having to request them every 10 days from the dr as they hadnt worked out what best pain relief to give me at the time and I hadnt had any diagnosis at that point either. I told the assessor what my diagnosis was on the telephone and what medication I have now been prescribed. I am still in alot of pain and struggle to do anything for myself but obviously due to telephone assessment they couldnt see how bad i am. Im really worried that I will be refused pip due to the lack of proof. I would like to know if anyone has been in a similar situation and has been awarded pip and what rate they received. Thank you all.

poppy123456

The length of time the assessment took is no indication of anything at all. Assessment times vary from about 15 -120 minutes. In fact my shortest assessment was 10 minutes and my longest was more than an hour and was successfully awarded with no problems.

PIP isn't about a diagnosis, so not having one makes no difference. The same applies to medical evidence, it's not really needed and it's only useful if it states exactly how your conditions affect you and as a lot doesn't then it's not needed.

I had my review last year and didn't send any medical evidence in either and had a paper based assessment, which means the report was writen based on the form i filled in. However, i did put down a couple of real world incidents of things that happened the last time i attempted each activity and i gave detailed information regarding this. Nothing more than that is needed.

You can't base others on yourself because all conditions affect people differently and entitlement to PIP totally depends on exactly how your conditions affect you against the 12 PIP activities.

Decision timescales are anything up to 12 weeks, sometimes longer.

harri73

Thank you for your reply, I am really worried about it I had to give up work because of the pain. I told the assessor that when I did the form that I had over estimated the distance i could walk because since filling it all in that we had measure a distance and timed how long it took me to walk it. Do you think that will be taken into consideration? Thanks Harri73

Alex_Alumni

Hello @harri73 I'm glad to see Poppy has been able to help with your query. To answer your latest question I think it's likely this will have been noted by the assessor, but of course I can't guarantee this is the case. 

Did the assessor ask you to stand or walk during the assessment?

poppy123456

I think it's impossible to speculate anything at this point. You've done everything you can for now and all you can do is wait for the decision. Try to think about something else while you wait.

harri73

Thank you both. No assessor didnt ask me to do anything, in fact she didnt really sound as if she was paying much attention to anything i was saying. She would ask a question but before i got chance to answer fully she would ask another question. It felt like some sort of quick fire round on a quiz show.

Alex_Alumni

I understand how it can feel @harri73 but remember the decision maker will also be looking at the form you sent in, plus any other evidence you sent, to help make their decision. 

As Poppy has mentioned, you've done all you need to do now, and you've done a great job getting through the assessment, so try to focus on other things to help the time pass  

Often when we are anxious, our worries can make things feel a lot worse than they actually are. The community will be here to support you whatever happens, but I hope you get the outcome you're hoping for. 

Let us know if anything else comes up in the meantime, and we'll do what we can to help.

harri73

Thank you all, I am trying not to think about it too much. I also know that I over think things. Take care all

L_Volunteer

I hear how you think you are overthinking things @harri73. It is easy to do and is more a reflection of the situation than you as a person.

Is there anything which usually helps you when you are overthinking? Please don't hesitate to let us know if there's anything we can do to help 

harri73

Thank you for your reply. I used to be able to cope with my over thinking things by going for a walk or even sitting knittinh (something i started during lockdown haha), but due to my physical pain getting worse i now cant sit still long enough to do that or to walk very far, i struggle to walk 20mtrs to my garden gate. So really struggle with everything.

L_Volunteer

You are welcome @harri73. It is the very least you deserve. It has been a little while since you posted, how are things for you at the moment? I hope things are better but if we can do anything to support you, please don't hesitate to let us know