Blue Badge Application

[MissMarplesNiece]

DM recently filled in a Blue Badge application form. She's now received a request for more information - namely proof of her infirmities.

I'm not sure she has any correspondence relating to these. She was assessed by the Falls Team about 2 years ago but doubt she will find their report, and she has got considerably worse since then. Can she get a report/copies of correspondence from her GP? Will there be a charge for this?

Her GP surgery is quite useless. If she tells the Blue Badge people she has no proof what would be their next step? Would DM have an assessment from them?

It took me years to persuade my mum that she was entitled to a blue badge ("I'm not disabled" - she so is!).

She filled in the form (my dad helped, he's 86 and "not disabled" either). I think she listed her significant issues (too many to mention) and the impact on her mobility. I think she also provided her GP's contact details but they weren't contacted.

They arranged to call her, and the badge was issued after that conversation. So hopefully it will be something like that. Presumably it varies a bit according to where you like.

Apply for attendance allowance also if you haven't already.

There is a big difference between councils. One of the questions on the form is 'can you walk (with a mobility aid or not) 20 metres'? If she can't you should get a blue badge. You need to tell them about her falls when trying to walk.

This isn't true. Part of the assessment criteria is being able to walk les than a certain distance, fir whatever reason that may be.

OP the council may ask your DM to go for a face to face assessment if you can't get quite enough evidence to get automatic eligibility.

@MissMarplesNiece - in my experience you have to be like a stuck record and say 'can't' not 'it's very difficult'. You have to say housebound.

Your GP can email a copy of her summary or can print one out for you.

I sent a redacted version in support of my mum's application because I wanted to preserve some privacy for her as a local councillor. I only sent the parts relevant to mobility problems. It went through with no problem.

Remember that those assessing it are admin staff, not medical.

My MIL has one based on age and frailty I'm pretty sure. She can only get around with a walker and doesn't leave the house much. She has Ménière's disease, not sure if that was a factor. She has had one fall with an overnight admission, but had the badge before that.

I got my first blue badge based on an assessment of my physical ability at a centre, I had to work a short distance with the assessor while chatting to her. We were supposed to walk around the building but she turned back at the first corner saying she had seen enough! She then took me to an interview room and asked me loads of questions from a computer screen which covered all aspects of my daily life and how I coped. I got the badge within a few days and it made a huge difference to my life.

After three years it came up for renewal and the process seems to have changed. I was contacted by an admin assistant at the council who had read my renewal form and told that I now needed updated evidence of medical interventions for my physical problems ( arthritis in knees) and was told to get a copy of my medical summary from the GP. This tool the secretary about five minutes to do, it’s simply a list of all my appointments at the GP, hospitals, physio etc going back many years, including just brief info about the visit. I was fascinated to read it!

I think this is all the OP needs to include with her mothers application - there was no charge for mine to be printed off.

It was enough though for my badge to be renewed for another three years - hopefully by then I will have has new knees so won’t need it anymore!

Do you have access to your dms medical records? Dm signed forms which gave the surgery permission to talk to me and also access to her on line records. This has all documents/ referral letters and timescales.
a lifesaver.

It is also important to complete it as if you are having your hardest day. This would be fraudulent, like seeking a blue badge for yourself on the basis of when you had flu. On the other hand, you should fill it in on the basis of what happens when no help is available,which is what you describe in “Not tick off your abilities (are you able to do your household shopping? Tick YES with the silent disclaimer of 'when my daughter carries the bags, opens the car door, drives, manages my money, remembers why we have even come shopping and where we are, and lets me cling on to her arm'. Ask me how I know...)”

@MereDintofPandiculation

I am commenting on my experience and the frequently reported phenomenon of people being loathe to describe themselves as infirm, unable and losing independence, and forgetting or in denial about the fact that when they tick that they can do something it is only because they have a lot of assistance.

The advice to complete forms describing bad, flare up or relapse days is commonplace from agencies and charities supporting those with disabilities and chronic conditions.

No need to accuse people of fraud.

@thesandwich No, I don't have a letter giving me this permission. It would be very useful - I'll get one typed up and ask DM to sign it tomorrow. If I take it into the surgery I can ask them for a print off of all her consultations as suggested by @Redebs .

I've only got until 14th May to submit it - I don't have faith that the surgery will produce anything in that time. A couple of months ago I gave them a week's record of DM's twice daily blood pressure readings that GP had requested. Heard nothing back from surgery for a long time - nearly 3 weeks. Then GP phoned to chase readings & it turned out the reception staff hadn't passed them to GP & the whole thing had to be redone.

I did this successfully for both my parents. I just sent all the appointment letters/hospital letters I could get my hands on, plus photocopies of their repeat prescriptions. They may have asked the GP for more information but I'm not aware of it. They did take several weeks.

Yes I've helped with 6 BB applications in the past few days and this is all I do. It's just a matter of showing if they are in pain or mobility poor.

So much rubbish on this thread , in our area they do assess you if you don’t provide sufficient paperwork and they do give out Blue Badges to old people who just can’t walk far - my MIL has one and aside from age related arthritis there is nothing wrong with her . @MissMarplesNiece go to the GP and ask for a print off of all her conditions , or do it on patient access if you have it and send that in . Also get your mum to tell the Blue badge team that they can speak to you and then you can deal with it for her .

@MissMarplesNiece our surgery had a form to complete for dm to sign- one for on line access to records, one to speak to them re dm.
on line access is brilliant for chasing up things/ chapter and verse. And you can print out doc ie consultant letters.

If her eyesight is so poor, ask the surgery for a letter confirming this.
That should be all you need.

The advice to complete forms describing bad, flare up or relapse days is commonplace from agencies and charities supporting those with disabilities and chronic conditions That’s a bit different from “on your hardest day” or, as I’ve seen recommended here, “on your worst day ever”.

Sorry, you may have meant “describe your needs on your bad days rather than on your best days” but others on MN have said describe your needs on your worst day ever, without any suggestion that this should be part of their normal spectrum of experience rather than on a single bad day never experienced since.

@MissMarplesNiece i think in addition to getting the information from the surgery DM needs to think about seeing the GP as there may be things she thinks are age related and should be endured that can be massively improved. Things like BP being managed, joint pain being managed, eyesight and hearing being optimised, OT can really help with small changes like raising chairs etc.

Letter from opticians to confirm visual impairment you referred to?

Ds got a blue badge when he was 3 with no issues, when it came to reapplying 3 years later I had read they now did a medical assessment at our local council. Which I fully expected him to have.

When I reapplied, I sent in his most recent reports that I had, (just hospital letters, things like that) and a covering letter explaining his difficulties and diagnosis’. I was very specific in this.

I also put the details of somebody they could contact (his headteacher at his special needs school) they gave him it without a medical assessment and didn’t contact his special school in the end either.

We asked the GP to write a letter, it was only a few sentences, basically saying he could only walk so many meters due to his conditions and listed out what he had been diagnosed with. I think they're just looking for something official as confirmation, they don't need loads of detail.

I'm annoyed. I asked DSis (DM lives with her) if she's got the report written by Falls Team & also the assessment done by Physio when DM was in hospital at Christmas. DSis said she wouldn't know where to start looking for them - there are cupboards full of paperwork relating to all members of family. A rhetorical question - Why is every bit of paper just stuffed into kitchen cupboards, regardless of what it is or who in the house it relates to (there are 6 adults living there). Grrrrr.

Am going to phone Optician tomorrow & also send email to Falls Team who did a comprehensive review of DM's mobility.

So buy some files or folders and start sorting the paperwork out. Meanwhile ask the falls team to write a synopsis of her care OR the GPS receptionist to print off her last few years notes, and take your mother to the DR to see if they can help with her declining health.
A blue badge isn’t just a parking pass it also gives you tax exemption and concessions on tolls and emission zone access. Of course they need to limit who they go to and you are best placed to find the evidence.