DLA form advice please for dd with gord and oesophagus problems

[Wearegoingtobedlehem]

Hi, I am hoping some of you lovely people may be able to help.
I am in the process of filling the application for DLA care component as my daughter certainly meets some criteria
As yet we don't have a full diagnosis but she has been diagnosed with gord, has oesophagus damage from previous strictures. This manifests itself in frequent "getting stuck" and regurgitation of food despite very careful planning and preparation. I have asked her consultant if he is willing to write a letter in support of her application and he is - he is asking what we would like included? What should we be suggesting?
Many thanks in advance

Hi Wearegoingtobedleham, the test for child DLA claims is whether the child in question requires substantially more care or supervision than a typical child of the same age.

For Low Rate Care the care must total an hour or more per day, over and above that which a typical child would need.

Middle Rate Care tends to be awarded if the child needs frequent care or supervision throughout the day or at night.

High Rate Care is for needs as Middle Rate Care and either frequent care needs at night or 2 or 3 longer periods of care required at night.

So, your claim needs to focus on what it is that goes above and beyond a typical child's care needs.

Given that your DD has GORD and oesophagus damage, I imagine the issues may centre around:

Feeding - extra time needed to prepare food to the right consistency, extra monitoring during eating. Cleaning your DD if she has an episode of reflux.

Bathing - extra baths due to reflux

Sleeping - careful positioning to avoid reflux.

Travel - as above.

etc

Remember to describe every action in detail - the people reading these forms will not know about typical reflux/gord issues - if you don't say it, it doesn't count.

Mention suctioning if you have to do this. cleaning suction machine.
applying cream to skin if vomit interacts with skin

Time spent on encouraging eating and drinking and the monitoring of food and fluid intake
Time spent undressing and dressing child after incidents
time spent encouraging child to take medication

If your child coughs at night, do you have to check on her to see if she is OK ? Do you need to be awake before she wakes in case she vomits?

it's a good idea to keep a diary for a few days and write down in it what happens over 24 hours
Before you fill in the form think try to have a record of the bad days not just the good days.

Meant to remove think from my last line