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PIP decision received - not enough points
- franpal
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7 years 8 months ago #167884 by franpal
PIP decision received - not enough points was created by franpal
Today I received my decision letter from PIP and it has been decided that I do not score enough points (daily living needs 6 points, mobility needs 4 points) to be awarded PIP at this time. I have read the letter and I think that the decision maker has underscored me for various activities in both categories.
On 2/5/16 I had a tonic clonic seizure at home which was witnessed by my partner and was taken immediately to hospital. I was then referred to the neurology department and have since then been undergoing investigations. I have continued to have seizures around 1 tonic clonic every 10 days and around 1-2 absences every day. I has a seizure at work which resulted in me being signed off work indefinitely by my doctor. I have also suffered with depression and anxiety for the last 13 years and been on and off antidepressants for this period.
One of the major issues that I am dealing with at the moment is that I have also become pregnant since the seizures started, I am now 18 weeks pregnant and because of this and the fact that my previous pregnancy was high risk the neurology team are extremely reluctant to medicate me so I am undergoing tests to try and clarify exactly what is going on and ideally they would like to wait until I have the baby (due 09/02/2017) to treat with medication.
Prior to the pregnancy I was taking antidepressants to help with the depression and anxiety and had been for 2 years but my GP immediately took me off of these due to the risk factor to the baby. This has worsened my anxiety and with all the health issues I have going on I have become very withdrawn and anxious.
My GP has stated that I am not allowed to cook whilst alone at home or use sharp knives and the decision maker stated that I can cook a simple meal using a microwave which amounted to 2 points. I was awarded 2 points for needing prompting from another person to engage with people but I did state that I am too anxious to do this by myself and take someone to all appointments where I have to engage with someone I don't know as I just can't face it. The other 2 points I was awarded were for needing supervision when washing or bathing which I do. However I did explain to the assessor that I need reminding to eat because when I have an absence or a seizure I am totally unaware of what I've been doing and most days I don't know whether I've eaten until the evening when my partner is home and I cook us all a meal and make sure I eat that and it is witnessed.
For the mobility needs I was awarded 4 points for needing prompting from another person to undertake a journey to avoid causing significant mental stress. Whilst the assessor was here I explained that both the neurologist and the GP have stated that I am not to leave the house on my own. I have had 2 absences where I have walked straight out into busy roads and so they both deemed it unsafe for me to do this. I was told not to use public transport alone for the same reason that I become disoriented after a seizure or absence and would not reliably be able to get anywhere on time and safely. The decision maker however has stated that my cognitive function and memory is normal which is just not true, if I have an absence or a seizure I have no idea where I am, what I'm doing, what I've done before it or even what's just happened. It can take anything up to 2 hours for me to become completely aware after one.
I am just wondering if it is worth me appealing this and then how I would go about it. Sorry for rambling on but I'm trying to explain as efficiently as I can exactly what has been going on.
On 2/5/16 I had a tonic clonic seizure at home which was witnessed by my partner and was taken immediately to hospital. I was then referred to the neurology department and have since then been undergoing investigations. I have continued to have seizures around 1 tonic clonic every 10 days and around 1-2 absences every day. I has a seizure at work which resulted in me being signed off work indefinitely by my doctor. I have also suffered with depression and anxiety for the last 13 years and been on and off antidepressants for this period.
One of the major issues that I am dealing with at the moment is that I have also become pregnant since the seizures started, I am now 18 weeks pregnant and because of this and the fact that my previous pregnancy was high risk the neurology team are extremely reluctant to medicate me so I am undergoing tests to try and clarify exactly what is going on and ideally they would like to wait until I have the baby (due 09/02/2017) to treat with medication.
Prior to the pregnancy I was taking antidepressants to help with the depression and anxiety and had been for 2 years but my GP immediately took me off of these due to the risk factor to the baby. This has worsened my anxiety and with all the health issues I have going on I have become very withdrawn and anxious.
My GP has stated that I am not allowed to cook whilst alone at home or use sharp knives and the decision maker stated that I can cook a simple meal using a microwave which amounted to 2 points. I was awarded 2 points for needing prompting from another person to engage with people but I did state that I am too anxious to do this by myself and take someone to all appointments where I have to engage with someone I don't know as I just can't face it. The other 2 points I was awarded were for needing supervision when washing or bathing which I do. However I did explain to the assessor that I need reminding to eat because when I have an absence or a seizure I am totally unaware of what I've been doing and most days I don't know whether I've eaten until the evening when my partner is home and I cook us all a meal and make sure I eat that and it is witnessed.
For the mobility needs I was awarded 4 points for needing prompting from another person to undertake a journey to avoid causing significant mental stress. Whilst the assessor was here I explained that both the neurologist and the GP have stated that I am not to leave the house on my own. I have had 2 absences where I have walked straight out into busy roads and so they both deemed it unsafe for me to do this. I was told not to use public transport alone for the same reason that I become disoriented after a seizure or absence and would not reliably be able to get anywhere on time and safely. The decision maker however has stated that my cognitive function and memory is normal which is just not true, if I have an absence or a seizure I have no idea where I am, what I'm doing, what I've done before it or even what's just happened. It can take anything up to 2 hours for me to become completely aware after one.
I am just wondering if it is worth me appealing this and then how I would go about it. Sorry for rambling on but I'm trying to explain as efficiently as I can exactly what has been going on.
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- Gordon
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7 years 8 months ago #167894 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP decision received - not enough points
Franpal
Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is
Welcome to Benefits and Work
You have two options;
You can make a new claim for PIP, trying to address the issues that the Decision Maker has raised, or
You can appeal the current Decision.
Technically you can do both, but I would not recommend this, as any Decision from a new claim will override the one resulting from an appeal.
The PIP Appeal guide explains the process of requesting a Mandatory Reconsideration and there are template letters that yo can use in the PIP section.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip
Did you use our PIP Claim guide to help you complete your PIP2 form?
There are some obvious issues from what the DM has written, for example; even when using a microwave, the requirement is that you can prepare and cook a simple meal, it is not a case of you heating up pre-prepared meals or using prepared vegetables. Your not being able to use a knife and in more general sense your risk of seizure would undoubtedly have an impact on your ability to prepare a meal although you must also show that those problems cannot be mitigated through the use of aids and appliances. You should also give some thought to the risk from carrying hot food, just because it has been cooked in a microwave does not mean that it cannot be boiling hot.
You may be able to score points for taking nutrition, it might help to provide documentation on the symptoms of the condition especially if these include details of the memory problems you mention. However, you do need to give some thought to how simple hunger pangs might prompt you to eat.
You may struggle to score higher for Washing and Bathing as you would need to show that you need assistance to do this.
The situation with your Mobility is not good. The law separates the reasons why you can score points, for the Going Out activity the requirement is that the limitation is the result of mental health, cognitive or sensory problems, the Moving Around activity is only for physical problems that limit the distance you can walk.
Unfortunately your primary issue does not really fit with either of these limitations , you may be able to argue that this is not the case, but it will very much depend on whether you can show that you cannot reliably perform the activities on the majority of days.
There are three routes to an award, all of which will require detailed explanation by yourself as to why you have problems, the first is that you cannot leave the house due to overwhelming psychological distress, the second that your are unable to navigate either an unfamiliar route or familiar route and finally that you cannot plan a journey.
If you have further questions them please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is
Welcome to Benefits and Work
You have two options;
You can make a new claim for PIP, trying to address the issues that the Decision Maker has raised, or
You can appeal the current Decision.
Technically you can do both, but I would not recommend this, as any Decision from a new claim will override the one resulting from an appeal.
The PIP Appeal guide explains the process of requesting a Mandatory Reconsideration and there are template letters that yo can use in the PIP section.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip
Did you use our PIP Claim guide to help you complete your PIP2 form?
There are some obvious issues from what the DM has written, for example; even when using a microwave, the requirement is that you can prepare and cook a simple meal, it is not a case of you heating up pre-prepared meals or using prepared vegetables. Your not being able to use a knife and in more general sense your risk of seizure would undoubtedly have an impact on your ability to prepare a meal although you must also show that those problems cannot be mitigated through the use of aids and appliances. You should also give some thought to the risk from carrying hot food, just because it has been cooked in a microwave does not mean that it cannot be boiling hot.
You may be able to score points for taking nutrition, it might help to provide documentation on the symptoms of the condition especially if these include details of the memory problems you mention. However, you do need to give some thought to how simple hunger pangs might prompt you to eat.
You may struggle to score higher for Washing and Bathing as you would need to show that you need assistance to do this.
The situation with your Mobility is not good. The law separates the reasons why you can score points, for the Going Out activity the requirement is that the limitation is the result of mental health, cognitive or sensory problems, the Moving Around activity is only for physical problems that limit the distance you can walk.
Unfortunately your primary issue does not really fit with either of these limitations , you may be able to argue that this is not the case, but it will very much depend on whether you can show that you cannot reliably perform the activities on the majority of days.
There are three routes to an award, all of which will require detailed explanation by yourself as to why you have problems, the first is that you cannot leave the house due to overwhelming psychological distress, the second that your are unable to navigate either an unfamiliar route or familiar route and finally that you cannot plan a journey.
If you have further questions them please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: franpal
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