Hi. Hubby had 6 monthly check up today. Everything going as well as can be expected. Lung function 17%. Oxygen 24/7 etc etc.
He asked his consultant, for a letter to support his claim for PIP. Consultant refused, saying you can just put his name down on the form and DWP will write to him if necessary.
I thought it was best to gather as much written support as possible before submitting the PIP form.
Have others done this (getting a letter from consultant, to send off with PIP application?)
Thanks in advance.
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gocat
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Both my heart and chest consultants and my GP wrote supporting letters. If your husband's PIP is refused check whether they did contact his consultant and use their failure to do so in your appeal. Good luck, I hope that he gets it
Hi as far as I'm aware, there's a section on the form for you to list anyone who can be contacted to support your claim. That would include GP, consultant, physiotherapist, occupational therapist etc. They are contacted by phone I believe.
I receive PIP, not for COPD but for another condition. I have never sent any letters from consultants. They will approach your husband's consultant if they feel they need more information. They prefer you to get a letter from your care provider because if they deem one necessary Atos, Capita or whoever have to pay for it. I only sent in a printout of my meds and a copy of the letter I receive that my consultant sends to GP.
I doubt your husband's consultant is the only one that refuses to provide a substantiating letter by a long way. Good luck with your claim, I'm sure you'll be fine.
I had to pay £20 for my letter. I rang up and asked them first. My GP gave me an excellent letter setting out my problems I have yet to send the paperwork for my PIP claim.
Ok thanks. That's reassured me. Just that I was sure I had read somewhere that it was better to get written supporting evidence to send in with the PIP application, but its seems it's ok just to put the consultants name and hopefully DWP will contact the consultant.
I emailed my consultant and he sent a letter, as did my GP, matron and as a 2% the nurse who has a long title to help folks stay out of hospital. Funnily enough the first person I spoke to at Welfare Rights said not to send them but wait until I need to go to appeal. the CAB website says to otain and send them. I have heard, and I don't know if it\s true the dWP don't usually contact the medics. That's what made me contact them myself. I think because they are now assessing everyone, including all the people who used to be on indefinite DLA, the medical profession would be overwhelmed by supporting letters, but it is a shame your consultant is reluctant. I know my consultant used to get requests from DWP and they paid £40 which used to go back into the hospital fund.
Make sure you send anything you have and when you get a decision, if you don't agree with it you can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration, which means another decision maker has to look at your claim and make a decision. If you don't agree with the decision you can then appeal and I would suggest you get a benefits expert at that stage to help you with the appeal. Doctors really dob't appreciate it is not what you have wrong with you, but rather how it effects your daily living.
Good luck. BTW I got a letter from them today to apologise for the delay. They now have received all my documentation and will let me know when they make a decision. Not sure if that's good or bad.
Good luck. I would have thought with such a low lung function and being on 02 he will be successful.
I would think putting the name of the consultant would suffice. When applying for attendance allowance a medical report was sent with the form. The CAB dealt with it.
I always ask for a copy of the letter my consultant sends to my GP. If you ring the hospital and ask to speak to your Consultants secretary, hopefully they will be able to send you a copy. A copy of your last lung function action test results is also useful.
Yes. I manage the form filling for my son (DLA and now PIP) and we always get evidence from his consultant/specialist nurse as well as recent clinic letters. The consultant knows about the condition but not always the details about the effect on his day to day life, or the precise amount of help and support he requires. I do always ask for a copy to be sent to me first to check it's accurate, and then I can refer to it when I explain the exact details of how the condition affects aspects of his life. Never had a problem if I ask for a minor change to be made as it's always something that is true, and just clarifies the situation for the assessors.
That's what I did jans but we are obviously lucky to have proactive consultants. Very difficult if we had a reluctant con like the one gocat's dh appears to have.
Hi cofdrop, Thanks for your good wishes I have clicked on LIKE button but, accidentally, also on the little arrow - hope I've not reported your post! I agree we have probably both been very lucky with his consultants, expect the financial pressures in the NHS are not helping in some cases. You hear of lots of DLA and PIP refusals being overturned on Mandatory reconsideration and Appeal these days, but really stressful to have to go through that. X
I am dreading if I have to go to mandatory reconsideration and/or appeal with all the stress I have going on already, but I WILL if I have to. You are right the amount of DLA indefinite to PIP which have been turned down and then had the decision overturned on appeal makes you think of the huge amounts of money being wasted by the DWP for, by their own figures 0.5% fraud. To get DLA indefinite you really had to be effected by degerative conditions, otherwise if there was a chance of improvement you would not have been given indefinite. So they change the criteria to 20mts.
Hi cofdrop, My son got switched over without an interview and got an award until 2020. Would obvs prefer he didn't need the PIP in the first place but at least it was fairly easy, although incredibly stressful. He has a degenerative condition (which is invisible) but we hope there will be some new treatment available before it's too late, so I guess I'd rather re-apply in a few years time than just get an indefinite award and believe there is no hope. We would have pursued it if he had been turned down. Keep that soapbox handy, I don't understand how we have got into a position where our government thinks it's OK to demonize claimants just because of such a tiny proportion of fraud - sad times. Are you applying for a switch from DLA to PIP atm? X
Yes I am jans. My birthday was nearly 3 weeks away from the cut off point!
I am so sorry to hear of your dear son's condition and I think as his mum you have a brilliant attitude. As he is young I hope there is every chance with medical advancement that there is a lot of hope he has a bright future. I know with regard to one of the conditions I have, which I have had since babyhood, after decades of no specific trials, there is now lots of interet and funding for trials. May or may not be within my lifetime but will hopefully benefit those younger than me, especially the kids.
I don't understand how they think it's ok either. The 2 private companies doing the assessments must be costing a fortune. Did you see the 2 programmes, one on ATOS and the other on Capita - an undercover dr. went to ATOS and an undercover investacative journalist to Capita. A guy there was bragging about how money he could earn and said to this journalist 'this woman is so fat she can't wipe her own *****. He took 'photos of the screens (which is against the data protecion act). A supervisor came in and took a notice down. The notice was to tell claiments they could have their assessments recorded and she stated too many people were asking for their assessment to be recorded. After the programme they stated the guy had got the sack.
I guess with everything else in life, it depends on who you get. There must suely be some decent folks doing that job!
I didn't see the program but I heard about it. I'm not convinced contracting out this sort of service is sensible or good value for taxpayers money. Plus it's too adversarial, even if they get someone good it may not be possible for that person to act in the claimant's best interests if they are put under pressure. Glad to hear there is now some interest in research into your condition, my son has CF and so we are deeply saddened by todays rejection of Orkambi by NICE :(. So much is ruled by profits now that research and development into rare diseases, and those that won't generate huge incomes, are so often shelved or not funded. In this case it's the huge cost of treatment - it is funded is USA and some countries in Europe, but not in the UK on the basis of cost. Something has to be wrong with the system that this can happen, particularly as antibiotic resistance is on the increase, which will potentially affect just about everyone with lung problems. Rocky times ahead I fear. X
I agree jans. I am sorry to hear your son has cf and that Orkambi has been rejected by NICE. Disgrace.
I have non cf bronchiectasis and the trials I was talking about are to be divided equally between cf and ncfbe for inhaled abs. 50 million euros. Here is the link my consultant showed me originally.
Medical reports really are a great help because those doing the assessments don't always understand what a condition means to the person living with it day in day out. I have two rare conditions so supporting medical info was really important to put my case. I'm so sorry to hear that your husbands consultant would not provide supporting documentation. Have you approached your husband's GP as maybe they would be more willing to help ? Hope all goes well with the application. I'm in the waiting phase myself so understand what a stressful and worrying time you are going through right now x
The consultants and gps get £32.50 from capita for every pip claimant that they vouch for. Its only a small box they have to fill in. Enough for about a paragraph. My last job we used to receive the forms from gps etc and send the paperwork to pip and the money request to capita. They must make a fortune alone doing this x
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