PIP- eating and drinking

Hi SarahT

Welcome to the forum.

You might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is; www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/faq/forum.

If you haven't done so already, have a look at the members guides which give information about all the descriptors, and what to consider. Here's a link;
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip-2. look at page 37 of the guide which answers your question.

Gary

Hi Sarah T,
All of the PIP descriptor activities require 4 criteria to be met - the so-called reliability criteria.
All 4 must be met.
Safety
Repetion throughout the whole day as often as reasonably required
Acceptable standard
Reasonable time - no more than twice that of non-disabled person
Even if none of these create extra points for eating and drinking, these criteria of course also apply to all other descriptors and it may therefore be an idea to consider other descriptors and have a further look at these.

Safety - this means a risk of substantial harm to you or another In terms of eating and drinking this is likely to be risk of choking, maybe not knowing if food is hot and hence burning oneself. If you can't perform the activity across the whole day safely, acceptably and in time, then any such day will count towards the 'majority of days'.
(This is Regulation 7 - which basically ensures that variable conditions can still give rise to an award of PIP eg if you have one or two days a week when you can get about and do PIP tasks but then you have flare ups where it all gets bad again.)
There is a different rate of repetition for each descriptor. For example, getting dressed or undressed would normally occur at the beginning and end of the day. It includes shoes so if you go out you might need to put shoes on or change shoes. Likewise coming back home, and of course if you go out more than once. It would include help with putting on a coat or taking it off. The repetition rate is basically all the times across the day you might need help, because yoy can't actually do the activity or eg need supervision to be safe, or to ensure the activity is timely or acceptable. If you have a mental health problem that creates a problem whereby you have to change clothes every hour, or alternatively have issues with diarrhoea or vomiting then there is a argument to show you need to 'repeat ' more times across the day. If you fail to repeat on something other than for a very trivial time, then the whole day counts as part of the majority. Recent caselaw indicates that a person with very poor sight couldn't safely walk around after dark as in poor light she couldn't see kerbs, cars, hazards etc and needed to be supervised on all journeys. The reality was that here the claimant received sufficient points to attain enhanced rate mobility even though her problems only occurred at night - so part of every day. It was determined thst it was reasonable for her to go out after dark, and since she couldn't do it safely she needed to be accompanied hence the points.
In terms of eating and drinking, consider whether your health problems actually prevent you eating/drinking across the whole day? Obviously if you are hungry/thirsty then you should eat/drink. Hydration throughout the day is also important. Again more so if you have a dry throat or disease such as diabetes when you drink more. Think about whether you avoid eating or drinking possibly due to pain. If you are eg thirsty and can't be bothered due to the effort involved, or pain etc then the chances are you aren't repeating.
Acceptable standard is basically the norm you would expect. Crucially being in pain is counted as not being acceptable. This could be constant pain or pain that comes on or increases when doing the PIP activity. Providing the pain is of a reasonably significant level, then this will indicate a need for some sort of help or an inability to perform or complete the activity. Using dressing as example, painful arthritis precludes bending so shoes and socks become difficult to put on.
Firstly think would an aid or appliance help? Maybe a sock pull on device or pull on shoes, no laces?
However if arthritis is also in the hands, then there is no grip to use the sock device. A person is now required to physically help put on socks. Alternatively if the person has really severe arthritis - can't grip, can't bend, and has such limited movement and or pain generally in all limbs, he can't get any part of him properly dressed then 'he cannot dress (upper or lower body) at all'.
Using eg a food processor to mash food, a straw, or perhaps special cups or cutlery could be classed as an aid or appliance- indeed any other dedicated disability device or improvised item should count for this if it improves your function. Anything like this that you use that helps can give you 2 points.
If you have a risk of choking (even if you don't actually choke often,) will clearly be a substantial risk of harm- choking can kill, so there is a clear safety risk - this would indicate a need for supervision, (you might have already mashed the food or used a straw etc but safety issues still requires supervision.) Equally lack of awareness of heat etc might also require supervision as I suggested earlier.
Maybe to avoid increased pain you avoid eating etc. In this instance you might need prompting. If pain levels are always quite bad or get worse then this comprises not acceptable standard. It will indicate a need for a device or human. Unlike other descriptors, the need for a device and or human are both worth 2 points. If there is eg a lack of sensation that means you drio food or drink out the mouth and hence it dribbles down your face this could also amount to not being acceptable and here the help might be from a human to clean up your face.
Prompting can achieve 4 points.
Other points can be scored if you have and or need help with a feeding pump.
The final score can only be achieved if you can not convey food or drink to your mouth and need another to help. This could be because you can't lift your arms or hold a spoon etc. However if you regularly spill so much food or drink that this scarcely gets down your throat, because of pain or lack of sensation or indeed inability to chew or swalliw, or other relevant health problem, then there is a strong argument you can't eat/drink acceptably and therefore you need physical help for the majority of days. (Bearing in mind if you fail to eat/drink 'reliably' on all of the required repetitions ie any time you want to eat etc or ought to then this adds to the tally to reach the majority of days.)
If you have problems in eating, swallowing and the neuralgia means it takes you much longer than normal to eat and swallow etc, maybe you need to wait after each spoonful, maybe you can only eat eat a quarter spoonful at a time, so a plateful takes half an hour to eat? - if this is twice as long as it normally takes others, then this will also indicate a need for some sort of help. I'm not sure whether this form of difficulty could comprise 'cannot convey food/drink to mouth and need another'- it woukd deoend on the exact problem and reason for the other person.
This sort of analysis can be adapted to use with all the descriptors.
One final point - Reg. 7 this also provides that where 2 or more descriptors in the set apply the highest point value should be scored. Otherwise the most prevalent value should be used where unequal times apply.

Your trigeminal pain may suggest that other PIP activities should be scored if they are carried out with significant pain. The pain doesn't necessarily have to relate to the body parts doing the task. Otherwise if the pain means that you lay down and can't do anything, then consider points, especially high points for all activities.
I hope this helps.
LL26