Complaints about PIP assessments up 6,000 per cent in three years

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  • twonker
    twonker Posts: 617 Empowering
    WF2k said:
    Yeah, hope it went well.

    I need to try and stop feeling angry.. silly assessor trying to say I don't have mental health problems...  :#
    Establishing that someone has a mental health problem is simply done using the Mental Status Examination process

     https://testandcalc.com/Richard/resources/Teaching_Resource_Mental_Status_Examination.pdf

    It's not entirely carried out by questioning but instead by watching. The assessor will try to justify their opinion by listening to what you say and how you look. Looking clean and tidy would not indicate a mental health problem etc 
  • Gerald
    Gerald Online Community Member Posts: 225 Empowering
    twonker said:
    WF2k said:
    Yeah, hope it went well.

    I need to try and stop feeling angry.. silly assessor trying to say I don't have mental health problems...  :#
    Establishing that someone has a mental health problem is simply done using the Mental Status Examination process

     https://testandcalc.com/Richard/resources/Teaching_Resource_Mental_Status_Examination.pdf

    It's not entirely carried out by questioning but instead by watching. The assessor will try to justify their opinion by listening to what you say and how you look. Looking clean and tidy would not indicate a mental health problem etc 
    twonker said:
    WF2k said:
    Yeah, hope it went well.

    I need to try and stop feeling angry.. silly assessor trying to say I don't have mental health problems...  :#
    Establishing that someone has a mental health problem is simply done using the Mental Status Examination process

     https://testandcalc.com/Richard/resources/Teaching_Resource_Mental_Status_Examination.pdf

    It's not entirely carried out by questioning but instead by watching. The assessor will try to justify their opinion by listening to what you say and how you look. Looking clean and tidy would not indicate a mental health problem etc 


    Hi twonker  So you go the assessor way with can read a road sign mental health problems and not the letters from a doctor that i was in counselling for my Severe Depression and Anxiety and that the Psychiatric medication i'm on is at the top dose that you can take  Know we wil go with the top test that the assessor as uesd the can read a road sign test that is a very well known mental health test so it must be how my doctor and counselling started i must have got the road sign test Wrong 
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 584 Listener
    @twonker no offence but I have you on ignore for a reason, I already know how it works, I am not stupid, I've read what ilovecats and such have said in their posts. The assessor was looking at his laptop most of the time and you CAN'T possibly know how someone is 50% of the time by a 60 minute assessment, also everyone is different, plus he pretty much went against the first assessors report and ignored a GP letters, psychiatrist report/letter and so on. 
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 584 Listener
    @Gerald I sent you an inbox with an apology.
  • Gerald
    Gerald Online Community Member Posts: 225 Empowering
    Hi WF2k there is no need to send me a apology after all that I had to put up with about this and there way the assessment is done for mental health is just wrong as how the hell can the assessor I had come up with is assessment after seeing me for 30 mins it is BS and then you get you cannot say a word about the assessor as knows all in 30 mins and then I end up with 19 months of hell and at one point thinking about ending it all so as far as I see the ? Hole can go to hell. sorry about the last bit but it gets me so mad and thinking that this is still going on to this day its just wrong.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 584 Listener
    Yeah, I just felt bad for snapping at someone in your thread lol, but I've I've explained in my pm anyway.

    It's pretty degrading in all fairness, I'm sorry it affected you like that :( I'm glad you won your tribunal, not that you should have had to take it to a tribunal.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,456 Championing
    twonker said:
     Looking clean and tidy would not indicate a mental health problem etc 
    Totally disagree sorry. My daughter had a face to face assessment at home the first time i claimed for her. She was dressed perfectly because she's prompted by myself otherwise she wouldn't know or understand what to wear everyday. Her hair was perfect, as it always is. She showers/baths daily and either myself or my other daughter make sure the water is the correct temperature for her because she doesn't understand water temperature. Many times she's gone into the shower and it's either been too hot or too cold and she's had to shout for help. The way she looked didn't go against her and she scored points for needing prompting/assistance in dressing/undressing and washing/bathing.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 584 Listener
    I agree with Poppy.

    The thing is, I didn't look clean and tidy at my assessment, I hadn't showered for 2 - 3 weeks, my Son usually prompts me to shower and even then I don't always do it because I'm too tired, sore, don't feel like it etc. sometimes he literally has to nag me to shower or my Mum will ask what that smell is.. which is pretty embarrassing. I was also in my pj's and yet he claimed I was kempt, in appropriate clothing etc. So yeah I don't think it matters either way.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 584 Listener
    I have no idea, it was a home assessment, I wouldn't attend a centre in pj's due to my anxiety. He made out I was bouncing my leg for 10 minutes, I was shaking for most of the assessment and was totally wiped out after it. Me stuttering and my son having to help me etc. has all been recorded anyway (with permission).

    Thanks for explaining @ilovecats
  • mercedesbd
    mercedesbd Online Community Member Posts: 109 Contributor
    axwy62 said:
    The nurse that assessed me couldn't see my wheelchair and, even though I remained in my chair throughout, imagined me walking more than 50 metres in a room less than 5 metres long - I'm sure I'd remember walking round in circles! I have my next assessment this afternoon, and I'm expecting more of the same.
    Did you complain and get another assesment?
  • twonker
    twonker Posts: 617 Empowering
    poppy123456 said:
    twonker said:
     Looking clean and tidy would not indicate a mental health problem etc 
    Totally disagree sorry. My daughter had a face to face assessment at home the first time i claimed for her. She was dressed perfectly because she's prompted by myself otherwise she wouldn't know or understand what to wear everyday. Her hair was perfect, as it always is. She showers/baths daily and either myself or my other daughter make sure the water is the correct temperature for her because she doesn't understand water temperature. Many times she's gone into the shower and it's either been too hot or too cold and she's had to shout for help. The way she looked didn't go against her and she scored points for needing prompting/assistance in dressing/undressing and washing/bathing.
    Appearance does play an important part in assessing mental health. In my link above you will see what they are looking for.
    Obviously your daughter looking clean and tidy was down to you and as long as you can get the assessor to accept that then it would not go against her.
    If on the other hand you go into an assessment looking clean and tidy and no one with you and you not highlighting that to get into that condition required input from another then it would go against you. At the end of the day it is down to the assessor believing your statement.

  • twonker
    twonker Posts: 617 Empowering
    ilovecats said:
    The MSE is a holistic overview of how you present at assessment in that moment only.

    Just because someone is having a good day and is able to have a shower and turn up looking clean does not mean they do not have mental health problems.

    Just because someone is able to converse well does not mean they don’t hear voices or feel suicidal. 

    Sorry but one of your ex colleagues did not think like that. I can accept it if there was no evidence to back it all up. But after submitting a 5 page report from the Memory Clinic, a Psychiatrists report and a repeat prescription list showing medication for depression along with a DWP doctor's report that awarded me another disability benefit actually confirming a serious mental health condition I was given countless reasons why I did not have a mental health problem. Clean and well dressed, good eye contact, was able to talk about my health problems, did not sweat, did not rock in the chair etc etc.. 
    I gave up after that with making any reference to mental health in following re-assessments believing that I would not be believed no matter what.

    Maybe however they thought I was playing  them?  

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