Proof of Fibromyalgia/Osteoarthritis
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Peterph
Community member Posts: 22 Connected
Hi all, my wife has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis and will be applying for PIP shortly (been told you have to wait from 3 months from diagnosis) when applying how does she get proof of diagnosis, is it from her GP as they want £30 for a letter!
Any other tips with applying would be welcome
TIA
Any other tips with applying would be welcome
TIA
Comments
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Hiya ? pip isn't about diagnosis so you may not need it anyway? It's about wether she is able to do certain things reliably/safely? The descriptors? There is a document explaining what they are but I'm not able to post it unfortunately so hopefully someone else can?
That helped me massively I genuinely had no idea about what they need to know until I read that document! Good luck with everything!
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Lots of really knowledgeable people on this forum so you will get some good advice no doubt ?? wish I'd of found it before! Take care and stay safe guys!
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Emilyb81 said:Hiya ? pip isn't about diagnosis so you may not need it anyway? It's about wether she is able to do certain things reliably/safely? The descriptors? There is a document explaining what they are but I'm not able to post it unfortunately so hopefully someone else can?
That helped me massively I genuinely had no idea about what they need to know until I read that document! Good luck with everything! -
Hi and welcome to the community
You don't have to wait 3 months from diagnosis you have to have had the condition for 3 months before you apply
You don't need diagnosis letters as above it's about how the condition affects her against the descriptors
Have a good look at them before applying -
Peterph said:Hi all, my wife has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis and will be applying for PIP shortly (been told you have to wait from 3 months from diagnosis) ..
If she has been diagnosed with something by a consultant I would have expect her to have got a copy of a letter confirming the diagnosis.
She can ask her GP for her complete medical records and they have to provide. In my opinion that is over the top (and puts quite a lot of strain on GPS). She could however ask for her Summary Care Record. This is usually only a few pages but will show diagnosed conditions, medical and a summary of her medical history.
Full description of the PIP points system and the reliability test are here
https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-points-system
Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Rules may be different in other parts of UK. -
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Hope it's ok to post that it won't let me post the actual document for some reason... Sorry if not meant to post links ?
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Is it better to ask for a paper application or to do it over the phone?
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My boss gave me this advice when I was applying for promotion but I think that it applies here as well…
Spend time researching exactly what the criteria are and then explain how you meet them. Give a couple of examples for each and try to cover different aspects. Do not spend any time on waffle - make it easy for the assessor to find the information.
If you apply this to the first activity - Preparing Food.
This doesn’t include bending down to use an oven so don’t mention that.
Give a couple of examples of the difficulties you experience chopping/ slicing ingredients, opening packaging, checking when food is cooked etc.
If your grip is poor and you can’t use a peeler then it’s likely that you can’t chop ingredients for the same reason so don’t repeat yourself but concentrate on other aspects - e.g. if you lave the cooker on because of cognitive difficulties.
Personally I wouldn’t send loads of medical reports. In my own cases I’ve got dozen, most of which say nothing about how I carry out daily tasks and some that I can barely understand anyway. They’re written by doctors who want to make you better not help you claim PIP. If the assessor is wading through these he/she isn’t spending time reading the important stuff - which is the examples you give.
Keep it brief and to the point!
Good luck..
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Peterph said:Is it better to ask for a paper application or to do it over the phone?
https://www.gov.uk/pip/how-to-claim
Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Rules may be different in other parts of UK.
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