To be shocked that incontinence is ignored under PIP

[larant]

I have urinary incontinence to the point that I wear nappy like pads all the time. I still have accidents and if I am away from home for long, carry spare clothing as accidents are not uncommon. However under PIP, this is totally irrelevant.

I have a urostomy (bag stuck to my side) they were not interested in my other things I have going i got it for my bag please appeal it.

I found when helping people do forms (as i was one of the earlier ones) a lot of it depends on the wording too which is bloody stupid and clearly trying to catch people out

Eg
Can you walk 200m
Yes, but only once a day = no award
No, not more than once a day = award

Basically, having (if you are like me) pretended you are fine and tried to ignore your illness and put on a brave face for ages, you have to flip the switch and do the exact opposite.

The form wasn't the problem for me, it was the terrible assessor. I shouldn't have had to show her i only had 5 contects on my phone to prove i have no friends and dont "go out drinking" either.

What is PIP? I had an op on my bladder that fixed my incontinence following the birth of my child, have you looked into this? I highly recommended it.

PIP is the disability benefit shrunken, that is supposed to be for "covering extra costs due to disability" (such as aids, incontinence pads and buying a £2k powerchair because the nhs wont supply you with one) :)

I thought it only counted if you actually need someone to help you with it?

That is my interpretation, as well. I review similar cases as part of my job (albeit in the US), and on the scale we use it would be that you need a person to assist you with incontinence care.

According to the PIP descriptors table, using an aid or appliance (ie incontinence pads) to manage incontinence independently gets you 2 points- a minimum of 8 points are needed for an award. So it does 'count' but on its own isn't enough for an award.

Appeal it. Also if you haven't already, total the actual points for the assessment yourself. Because occassionally I've seen awards that state ' insufficient points' but on counting them up there are. I also suspect that there's a habit of saying no first time round because at that point some people will drop it.

Op same! I need help washing, getting up ( including off loo cooking, dressing as some days i can do all this bar cooking and some dAys i cant get out of bed.
Iv been working for years with these problems and my condition has got so bad in last few years iv been put on esa because i could no longer stand up.
According to the women who assessed me though i don't need any help?
So if im in the house on my own and ill i don't eat anything as i cant get up and i shake.
It makes me so mad.

The accesor asked to see your phone jesus wept

I appealed it and they still denied it. Woman at cab was shocked especially by all my medical evidence.

he accesor asked to see your phone jesus wept

The whole thing made me feel awful.

Jason im
Sorry. I had a terrible assessor too she insulted me the moment the interview started. I was upset through the whole thing.
Some people should be allowed to do those assessments.

Should not*

Jason that is a disgrace

Thanks, Beyond the wall, but what does it stand for??

Personal Independence Payment (I think!)

I applied for PIP back when it first came in with mental health problems. I know this isn't relevent to you OP as your problems are with incontinence, but my story might help you a bit. I had to have a home assessment as the only place they could offer me an assessment was in a town 20 miles away. I explained that I am agoraphobic and could not get there. I had to fight for months just for a home assessment. The assessment focused mainly on physical things, it isn't really applicable to mental health at all. When I recieved the copy of the assessment the assessor had just put what she wanted down. There was a lot I said that wasn't included.

I appealed their decision, unfortunately the DWP also turned me down with the mandatory reconsideration they have to do. I took it to appeal. Luckily there is a voluntary agency in my area which helps with benefits appeals, so I was able to speak with one of their solicitors for a hour which really helped me as they felt I should have been entitled to it.

I finally got my day in the appeal court. The tribunal people were lovely, which was good as I was a wreck (just leaving the house was very difficult for me, going into a room with unknown people to discuss all my faults was nearly unbearable). I was in there for about 10 mins and they gently questioned me. They sent me out whilst they made their decision, which took about 30 seconds! They awarded me the higher rate mobility for 3 years (one year post dated). However all this took 14 months and seriously affected my already fragile mental health.

So what I want to say to all of you who are having to jump through all these hoops, is persevere. It is hard, it is soul destroying, and ATOS are c**nts. But you do not have to accept their decisions. You can ask the DWP to overturn it if you feel it is wrong, and if they don't you have the right to an appeal with people that don't have their own agenda and will accept evidence of your disability/ies that ATOS will not. Also make sure you have as much evidence as you can get to support what you are saying. Despite ATOS asking for all my hospital and dr's details, they will not check anything themselves, if you do not provide evidence all they use is their assessment.

Sorry I forgot to add that in the tribunal the people on the panel there said that in order for me to be able to be classed as being able to do something, I have to be able to do it reliably and regularly more than 50% of the time. That is why I qualified as occassionally I can do something as a one off, but I can't gaurentee I can do something, i.e I could get to the tribunal with someone, whilst sedated, but I couldn't gaurentee I could do it everyday.

it's so easy to understand why people are driven to suacide over this, it's horrible.

Problem is if they award one person pip for simply needing incontinence pads the majority of mumsnet could probably claim it.

You need to explicitly say "on 5 days of the week I need my husband to help me into the bath. I am too tired to then wash myself so have to ask him to do this for me. He then helps me out of the bath and dries and dresses me. I use x piece of equipment to assist with this task"

"I am too tired and in pain to cook a meal. I also am not able to stand for long enough in the kitchen to prepare a meal safely. Due to this my husband prepares all meals"

"I can walk for 30 minutes. However after this time I cannot walk any further and u have to stop. I have, on several occasions, been unsafe to drive home and so had to abandon my vehicle in a carpark and call a taxi or my husband to pick me up"

Just some examples from my form that may help.

It's not the form Chuffin it's the interview.

The interview should just be clarifying and confirming what's on your form.

My assessor ignored my major conditions as I had all the evidence with my application and focused on clarifying the effects of my minor ones (medication induced gastritis for instance)

Just be confident that you are the expert in you and your condition. Oh and take an advocate in with you to take notes and help put your case over.