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Lost PIP

StefsMrs
StefsMrs Community member Posts: 4 Listener
edited January 2018 in PIP, DLA, and AA
Hi everyone, 

 My husband was given the maximum care and mobility on DLA and was told this was for life. 

He worked all his life working in a quarry and thought nothing about lifting large slabs of granite but he did irreparable damage to his spine. He now walks with 2 sticks and is so crouched over he is looking at the floor. He takes enough morphine to stun an elephant as well as loads of other pain meds.  He has had adaptations to the house, including a stairlift.

Well, the beginning of January he got called in for PIP assessment and today he got a letter which only gave him 10 points for mobility. The assessor said he could walk 20 meters but less than 50.  In reality he has to use a mobility scooter to go anywhere local or the car for anything further than his scooter battery.  He is now going to lose his mobility car which he has had for 9 years.

He only got given 2 points for bathing when he has had to have a wet room installed.  He has to use a shower stool and I have to help him wash.

We had to appeal after he got turned down for DLA last time. They lost his file 3 times so it took a year before he went before an appeals panel.  During this time we lost our house and car. I am dreading it happening again.

Any advice gladly received


Comments

  • steve51
    steve51 Community member Posts: 7,153 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @StefsMrs

    Good Morning & Welcome.

    I’m so sorry to hear about your current situation with “pip”

    Unfortnatly there’s lots of members in the same “boat/ship”

    Have you been to the “CAB” for there input????

    We have got lots of info/help/support on our site.

    There is also a number of “Benefit Advisors” here as well. 

    I’m also very very happy in helping/supporting you in anyway???

    Please please let me know if I can help/support you???

    Thanks.



  • CockneyRebel
    CockneyRebel Community member Posts: 5,209 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi StefsMrs and welcome

    Mobility should be challenge on the reliability factors. To be able to complete the descriptor your husband must be able to do so Safely, Repeatedly, to an acceptable standard and in a timely manner. These are often not taken into consideration by HCP or DWP

    For the DL components the same applies
    Many of the DL descriptors are interlinked
    Can your husband stand to prepare food? or does he need to use an aid such as a perching stool ?

    Washing and bathing, can he get in and out of a bath even though you don't have one ? Does he need help washing his upper body ?
    Does he need a raised toilet seat or rails to help him get up ?
    Can he manage to dress himself in the morning ?

    Can he carry out any of the above before his medication kicks in?
    How long does it take for meds to work ?

    Have a look at the B&W self test

    http://www.mybenefitsandwork.co.uk/pip/indexxx.php

    CR
     

    Be all you can be, make  every day count. Namaste
  • StefsMrs
    StefsMrs Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Hi Cockney Rebel, 

    When we arrived at the assessment my husband was told he couldn't bring his little mobility scooter in because he might hit the fire hydrant even though there was plenty of room. He had to walk in using 2 sticks. The room was very small so I don't know how she can assess how far he can walk.  Please bear in mind that my husband is in constant pain because his vertebrae are grinding together. He is so stooped now he virtually looks at the floor the whole time. 

    He went through the usual assessment questions and she was told we use microwave meals because he cannot stand to prepare food and he certainly cannot peel or chop because of the arthritis that is in his hands and fingers.  He uses a perching stool.  Can I also say that before anyone says "why can't she do it", I am on my 2nd bout of cancer and suffer lots of associated problems.

    My husband's spine is so bad that he finally couldn't even turn to wipe his own bottom after going to the toilet.  I love my husband dearly and it broke my heart when he finally asked me for help. For a 50 year old man to have to ask his wife to clean him after soiling was so degrading for him but I did it out of love. When his OT found out the council installed a Closimat toilet which cleaned and dried him.  This didn't solve the problems of what happens when he went out so he has become a recluse, only going out for appointments because he is frightened that he will need the toilet and I cannot go into a men's public toilet to help him.  If he has to go out now he wears incontinence pads. He doesn't soil himself but these allows him to clean himself when he gets home. This has been so hard to discuss and it always upsets him when he has an assessment.  He cried when he had to disclose all this but according to the assessor "He showed no visible sign of distress".

    My husband has a stair lift as he cannot manage the stairs.

    I don't get much sleep because if he needs the toilet at night I have to help him up.  He cannot lay flat for too long as his back seizes up.  He recently had his gallbladder removed. He went down to theatre at 11 a.m. but by 9 p.m. he was still not on the ward. I was pretty frantic by this time.  What had happened was that when they tried to bring him around in the recovery room, because he had been laying on the flat operating table too long, when they woke him he started screaming in pain.  They wouldn't let him leave the recovery room until the pain management team saw him and they gave him dose after dose of Fentinal .

    As for bathing, we had to have a wet room installed as neither he or I could get in or out of the bath.  Luckily, our toilet is close to the shower so while he sits on the shower stool I bath him.  He has grab rails all around the bathroom and downstairs toilet.

    As for dressing, I have to put his lower clothes on such as socks, underpants and trousers. If he wears a shirt then it's up to me to do the buttons but, as my arthritis is getting worse, I ask him to put sport tops on more often than not.

    I know that I will be leaving this earth before my husband and I worry to death about him.  We live in sheltered accomodation with emergency pull cords and a lot of the residents have carers but when I see how little they actually do for the money I am just so reluctant to go through that route.  I don't want strangers in our house so for as long as I am able I will care for him.

    I just cannot see how he could have got such a bad report.  I have now had to get a mobility car in my name so not only has his allowance been halved but I am also losing a chunk of mine. I have so many hospital appointments and I have to visit my elderly mum in a home 3 times a week which is a long distance from where we live.  

    We have started the appeals process which also scares us to death.  When my husband first had to leave work we had a lovely bungalow and a car.   We were still waiting for the consultants report at this time which we finally got. They turned his application down for DLA so we had to appeal.  The DLA lost our file 3 times so we never got before the appeal panel for a year. Because of this wait with no income from my husband we lost our home and car.  The panel was so appalled that they apologised profusely and he was given DLA for life.

    Since then my husband's health has declined dramatically so how can PIP change his status???????

    Sorry for such a long post but we are so upset by this all.  Thanks for responding and taking the time to read such a long reply.

    Jill




  • JennysDad
    JennysDad Community member Posts: 2,299 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello @StefsMrs and welcome to the group. After reading your posts, words almost fail me, and there is little more that I can do than send you my love and my hope that things will be properly resolved for you.
    For what it may be worth, you are very much among friends here.
    Best
    Richard
  • StefsMrs
    StefsMrs Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Thanks Richard. I know many more are going through the same, it  just saddens me so much that we are punished for our disabilities.
  • JennysDad
    JennysDad Community member Posts: 2,299 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello again, @StefsMrs

    Just so you let us/me know if there is anything - at all - that we/I can do anything to help.
    Love and hugs
    Richard
  • southwestmike
    southwestmike Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    people losing their benefits are also losing their lives because of the pain and stress that they are put under. its sad very sad
  • StefsMrs
    StefsMrs Community member Posts: 4 Listener
    Just an update. We had a phone call from DWP last week and were asked for some more information regarding my husband's ESA. We then got a letter saying because my husband has got a severe disability then he will get more money.  Remember, they called us, we didn't apply for this.  So, if one gov't agency can admit my husband has a severe medical condition how can another agency take his PIP money and his mobility car? Absolute madness.  We couldn't be without a car so I have had to get a mobility car from my PIP.  My husband is happily sitting in it right now finding out what all the buttons and controls are bless him. Thanks for listening, Jill
  • JennysDad
    JennysDad Community member Posts: 2,299 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello Jill, @StefsMrs
    Lovely to hear from you, and great to hear that you seem to have acquired transport. It is insane, isn't it? I don't suppose you watched The Last Leg the other night, with Stephen Fry? There was a very interesting interchange about this benefits nonsense.
    Okay. I'm hoping none of those buttons is for an ejector seat :smile:
    Warmest best wishes to you, always,
    Richard.
  • Fight4Justice
    Fight4Justice Community member Posts: 63 Pioneering
    RichardVR said:
    Hello Jill, @StefsMrs
    Lovely to hear from you, and great to hear that you seem to have acquired transport. It is insane, isn't it? I don't suppose you watched The Last Leg the other night, with Stephen Fry? There was a very interesting interchange about this benefits nonsense.
    Okay. I'm hoping none of those buttons is for an ejector seat :smile:
    Warmest best wishes to you, always,
    Richard.
    @RichardVR please could you share here what was said on the "Last Leg", I'm unable to watch it.
  • JennysDad
    JennysDad Community member Posts: 2,299 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @Fight4Justice
    and thank you for your response. Nice to meet you. 
    The comments made were not anything of great substance. The presenters Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker arrived, with Stephen Fry, at a consensus regarding the stupidiy of the powers that be in creating an un-thought-through system which was intended to save money and which was now costing more in order to 'iron out the kinks'.
    It is probably still available on catch-up TV but I'm guessing you may well not have access to that, so let me know if you wish to and I will try to secure either an audio or a video recording for you. I can't promise they'll be up to much, but I'm willing to try.
    Very best wishes to you,
    Richard
  • Fight4Justice
    Fight4Justice Community member Posts: 63 Pioneering
    @RichardVR

    Thank you, and you too. No need for audio or video. That is very interesting. It's good the plight of disabled people is getting more mainstream attention. I like Stephen Fry, I think he has bipolar disorder, if I recall correctly. He's definitely one of the "good guys", as far as TV presenters go. I don't watch much mainstream TV, as I feel most channels follow a political agenda.
  • JennysDad
    JennysDad Community member Posts: 2,299 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi again, @Fight4Justice
    and I can't say I disagree with you where the politicisation of the media is concerned. These are dark times. But it is encouraging, as you say, to see the 'good guys' making an important point.
    Warmest best wishes to you,
    Richard

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