PIP Assessment

[Rafaina]

We have a home visit for a PIP assessment coming up. Anyone with experience got any advice ?

[FredaE]

Don't lie, dont exaggerate and above all DO NOT be brave and make the best of things. The language used in all such assessments runs - if you can do it on one day in ten -you can do it. If you can't do it 9 days out of ten - you can do it.

If you cant do it nine days out of ten the correct answer is "I can't do it." This is not lying or cheating in any way .

[Rafaina in reply to FredaE]

Thanks !

[Diane831]

Citizens Advice have some advice!!

citizensadvice.org.uk/benef...

that might give you some things to think about to help you prepare. You just need to be aware that they are watching and observing as well as listening to what you say.

Hope it goes well. Diane

[Rafaina in reply to Diane831]

Thanks - I will have a look at the CAB stuff too.

[Yanno]

Hello Rafaina, you've had some good advice from Freda and Diane. I would underline the advice not to be over confident, be realistic. A story.... Jackie always tries to be positive and when she was assessed she was having a good day. Jax was seated in an armchair and was asked to touch her head; "now move your hands around" she was asked, "please touch your feet or lower legs" which she duly did. When her assessment came through it said that Jackie could shower herself and wash her own hair!! The fact that she couldn't stand, get into a shower or sit on a shower stool without assistance wasn't asked.

We appealed with the excellent help of Age UK and Jackie was very quickly awarded the full payment. The moral I think is beware of being over confident and also the reason a question is asked may not be the most obvious.

One final point - are you aware that MSA Trust now has an advocacy officer whom I'm sure will be able to help if need be.

Good luck, Ian

[Rafaina in reply to Yanno]

Thanks for the advice Ian. The plan is to ring the Advocacy worker tomorrow !

Rafa

[phamwales in reply to Yanno]

as usual Ian's advice is bang on. The best advice i got and was on the money is .. describe your worst days not your best. don't lie and don't exaggerate

[jeeves19]

If you claim you can drive they’ll use this against you.

[Rafaina in reply to jeeves19]

Hmm.. that’s an interesting point. M only drives v occasionally and v limited places and we now have an automatic which helps.

[FredaE]

exactly what I was trying to say. This equals drives an automatic with ease. Not so.

[jeeves19 in reply to FredaE]

They’re pathetic

[FredaE]

Yanno always talks sense . It is so easy to be proud of how well you are coping but this is not a test of courage and spirit and fortitude. It is not a test to allocate help to people who are doing well but desperately need help to do better. Simply put this test, and any like it, is a test to see if a good case can be made for saying that you don't need it. It is a test to keep the budget of either the NHS or your local authority under control and within the amount provided by the government. Government finance is run like business not like a family, the rules of too much week left at the end of your money do not apply in the same way. For example for the government to borrow to double the retirement pension would mean a lot more pensioners paying tax to the government which would then pay for the cost of the borrowing and have some left over for other purposes as well as a lot of happy pensioners and lots of votes. This means that the doublling of the pension would be an investment not a hand out. Obviously this is over simplified and can't be done without strict limits but if asked for more money for something it does not want to spend on, the government will always fall back on the domestic finance argument which people can relate to. If a patient with MSA gets a bit of extra help it does not mean that the entire government will have to have one less biscuit with its morning coffee.

[Rafaina in reply to FredaE]

Thanks. I really need no encouragement getting political !! The sick and disabled are always the ones that bear the brunt of ‘austerity cuts’ - and this is all a political choice.

[Yanno]

I don't like to stray into political arenas but to paint a slightly different picture, some checks and balances have to be there or it becomes a free for all. It's not government money it's OUR money and we should expect and demand it's spent wisely. Sadly with another hat on, in a prior life, I've seen people who deliberately set out to defraud the system with disability claims. The real issue, I think, is that the 'checks and balances' have to be proportionate. Jackie has recently gone through her annual PIP reassessment and questions were asked such as "is she in remission", "how much has her condition improved over the last year", "if her condition has worsened, how can she demonstrate this". All nonsense, one feels like saying...just google Multiple System Atrophy and work it out for yourself saving us and you some time!!

Mini-rant over! Take care all, Ian

[Rafaina]

We have our PIP assessment tomorrow. I’ll post info about how it goes !