A good assessment and bit of hope

Can I also put in a word of praise to the assessor as my wife’s experience was also exemplary. She too had a home assessment, something unilaterally offered by Capita. Mind you the session got off to a tricky start with a phone call from the assessor asking ‘Where are you? I’m on the doorstep ringing the bell and no one is answering’. He wasn’t, he was in the next village where the occupant was out.

That was readily sorted and he spent about 40 minutes in the house. In preparation for the interview my wife had assembled the various aids like ring pulls, mug filling alarms etc that make her life easier and were referred to in the application. He said that was not absolutely necessary but thanked her for doing so and said he noticed them on the table when he arrived. He added he also noted the grab rails in the porch and by the front door, and her white stick and other walking sticks in the porch. I think they are trained to be observant about such things.

The whole conversation was relaxed and interactive. He listened very attentively and there was never a sense he was trying to catch my wife out. At one point he asked permission for her to copy the various body movements he was making. Naturally not all could be done and when my wife said she would rather not doing a particular bending motion for fear of triggering giddiness and a headache he immediately agreed.

After the introductions were made I chose to go into the next room to give them privacy but I was well aware I could have been present. I was, however, listening to all that was said! Nothing would have caused embarrassment although at one time the discussion veered onto suicide plans, something written in the application and the matter is not a secret between us though I choose not to ask about it or press the matter.

In total the interview lasted 40 minutes and the assessor thanked my wife for being so helpful and for the clarity of her answers. We took that as a good sign and, for the first time, I believed there was now a better than 50:50 chance of there being a positive outcome. My wife was always more optimistic but, unlike me, she had not heard some of the depressing reports on Radio 4 of people being refused PIP despite obvious disabilities. 

We should here within 8 weeks, said the assessor as he left the house. That took us to early January but ... nothing. Phoning the helpline just elicited the reply that the matter was still under consideration. Phoned again in late January but still nothing. In early February they told us that they had asked the assessor for some extra information and that had been received on January 28th. A decision would definitely be received within 2 to 3 weeks. Knowing they wanted extra details led to some despondency but we should not have worried because a ‘good news’ letter arrived on Friday, just over 14 weeks after the interview. The award holds firm until 2028.

I do not know if this will help anyone but with her application my wife submitted a double sided sheet of A4 listing her various medical conditions (among them 6 cancers and a brain aneurysm), the date of diagnosis, the hospital giving the treatment, the name of the consultant and a cross-reference to the photocopied sheets confirming the veracity of this. Even if it was no use in the PIP process, it was still beneficial to have a coherent medical summary. Time and again my wife is asked to give new medical staff she sees a brief summary of her medical history and this synopsis can just be passed over.

LMJ, I am delighted things seem to have worked out for you. You had no reason to feel embarrassed and I am sure your reaction just added weight to your claim. How fortuitous that the assessor needed to go to the loo. My wife often says that you rapidly abandon inhibition when faced by medical staff prodding here, there and everywhere. After having had two incidences of grade 3 breast cancer she said she almost had a Pavlovian response to taking off her top when seeing someone in a white coat. As she says, the vet was most surprised!