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Nervous about PIP telephone assessment

strawberrysherbet11
strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
edited October 2021 in PIP, DLA, and AA
Hi everyone. I have my PIP telephone assessment on Thursday morning and can’t stop stressing over it. It doesn’t help that when I applied for PIP the first time, it ended up going all the way to tribunal and they’re the ones who awarded me, not DWP. I also remember there were lots of lies in the assessors report. 

It would be very helpful if I could get some reassurance/positive experiences of other people’s telephone assessments, as I’m making myself more stressed reading all the ‘horror stories’ and bad experiences. 

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,317 Disability Gamechanger
    HI,
    There's a lot of people that assume that during the assessment the HCP is supposed to write what you say verbatim, this isn't correct. The assessment process is there for them to gather more information about how your conditions affect you and for them to form an opinion of based on everything you sent and what you said during the assessment.

    I'm assuming this is a telephone assessment? if so if they're ringing you on a mobile then make sure your phone is fully charged before the call. Grab a drink beforehand so it's there if needed. Have a read of the form before the call, as a copy should have been made before being returned. This will then remind you of what you said in the form.

    Some people find it useful to make some notes before the assessment so this can remind you what you want to say. Personally i don't find this useful.

    During the assessment try to answer the questions with just a yes or no, try and give as much detail as possible with some real world examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you.
    Assessment length can be anything from 20 - 90 minutes, sometimes longer. Good luck.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    @poppy123456 thank you for your reply :)  it is a telephone assessment, yes. I photocopied my forms before I sent them off and have them ready to refer back to during the call. Will probably read through them again before hand. Also my fiancé/carer will be on the call with me the whole time to help further explain how I’m affected if I get a bit stuck or confused. I just hope it won’t be as bad as I think it will be. 
  • Tori_Scope
    Tori_Scope Scope Posts: 12,488 Disability Gamechanger
    Reading through the forms is a good idea @strawberrysherbet11 :) Are you happy with the examples you were able to give in your form? 

    It's good to remember that you're more likely to hear about the bad stories than the good ones, as people are more likely to post online if they've had problems and need some advice. Best of luck for Thursday! You'll have to let us know how it goes.
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  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    @Tori_Scope thanks for replying! I feel pretty happy with the examples I put and feel I put as much detail as possible. That's very true about hearing more bad than good, I'll definitely update once I've had the assessment. 
  • niknak7278
    niknak7278 Community member Posts: 82 Pioneering
    Hello @strawberrysherbet11. My husband had his telephone assessment this morning and it lasted almost 2 hours.

    The assessor was a nurse.  In the letter he received it said that although he could have someone next to him they weren’t to answer questions, however the courtesy call on Friday said we could put the phone on loud speaker and I could make comments.

    The assessor was happy for me to answer and when she ascertained he couldn’t remember his medication she asked me to run through the list.

    During the call our house phone rang a couple of times and just as it ended the district nurse knocked on the door - she wasn’t remotely phased.

    She told my husband to expect a decision in around 8 weeks.

    Good luck with your call!
  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    Hi @niknak7278, thank you for answering. My letter says that as well, so I felt a little unsure about what was allowed, so this has helped quite a bit. Thanks for wishing me luck as well, I hope your husband gets the decision he wants/needs :) 
  • danielleD
    danielleD Community member Posts: 24 Connected
    I think it's all sounding positive for you I wish I'd had my assessment after joining this community because  I feel like I was not as prepared as I'd like to have been however I feel alot more confident going forward with my MR now i feel like I have a better understanding of the process and the things I should be thinking about, I would say even if your not successful first time it's not the end of the road ? good luck ? 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,317 Disability Gamechanger
    Some assessors will allow prompting to answer questions, some don't.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    @danielleD thanks for commenting as well! I had that problem the first time, I went to a face to face with pretty much no preparation and it didn't go very well. The experience with that, plus reading through all the forums has helped me to be more prepared this time around. I also feel like there would be lots of people to help me out here if it goes to MR/appeal. Best of luck with your MR :) 
  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    @poppy123456 okay, will keep this in mind! 
  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    Hi everyone, had my assessment not too long ago, it lasted just under an hour. I think it went okay, I did struggle quite a bit with answering some things and had to be prompted by my partner. With that being said, I think I answered thoroughly and expanded upon my answers, rather than just a 'yes' or 'no' and feel I covered everything as best as I could. Apparently 4-6 weeks for a decision, just got to hope it's good news.  :s
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,317 Disability Gamechanger
    Glad it went ok. Decision times scales because of the backlogs is more like 2-12 weeks, sometimes longer.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    @poppy123456 Thank you. Yeah, that’s what I’m expecting, I was surprised when she only said 4-6 weeks to me. 
  • niknak7278
    niknak7278 Community member Posts: 82 Pioneering
    So glad it went okay. 

     It’s important the assessor hears the struggles as it’s how you are and the help your partner gives you. My husband forgot the questions partway through his responses and I had to ask him if he wanted the questions again.  

    Fingers crossed it goes okay for you both.
  • strawberrysherbet11
    strawberrysherbet11 Community member Posts: 38 Connected
    @niknak7278 thank you :). That’s definitely true, I also stumbled over my words a lot and kept pausing while in the middle of a response because I’d forget what I was trying to say or felt a bit hesitant. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,317 Disability Gamechanger
     I was surprised when she only said 4-6 weeks to me. 

    That's because they don't have any idea of the size of the backlogs.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.

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