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My request for PIP assessment Home visit denied

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5 years 11 months ago #210989 by Maysie01
I currently am in receipt of Enhanced care PIP for mental health reasons with one year left to go until I am due for reassessment. However I have degenerative disc disease of the spine which has caused me pain for years and restricted my movements. Over the last year I have in addition experienced neuropathic pain around my lower spine which has increasingly affected my ability to move. I wear 2 Buprenophine patches first started in September last year soon after followed by morphine and tramadol to top up with as well as 30mg Amitriptyline at night. I can manage to move around my small house with the patches and Amitripyline as my regular pain relief keeping within bearable pain levels. I am unable to walk far and if I do go out I take both morphine 30mg and tramadol 100mg before hand, taking the medication with me in case I need more and can only travel door to door by car.

Mental health wise I have recurrent depressive disorder, anxiety and PTSD following years of domestic violence. The PTSD leaves me frightened of men and I could never be in an enclosed space with a male, so would never see a male GP or use a taxi. I'm scared of being around anger even if it's not directed at me and I freeze and sob if I am around angry people. Even a tone of voice portraying annoyance can set me back with flashbacks. I find appointments stressful and after the majority of them with my GP or my CPN I will see harm. I've been stitched up by paramedics before when I've been unable to stop he bleeding but if the bleeding stops I will leave a wound unstitched even if it's deep and open because I'm terrified that the paramedic who comes to do the wound closure may be male, even though to date they have all been female.

The lady who until recent weeks gave me lifts to our GP (we had adjacent appointments though she attends weekly and I attended monthly instead speaking on the telephone in intervening weeks) left me stranded in the chemist a few weeks back because she was stressed and had to go leaving me shocked as it happened so suddenly. Knowing I couldn't walk home and not having my top up pain relief with me I ended up crying in the chemist and a lady customer drove me home.

The Lady who previously gave me lifts is now not speaking to me because I told her how distressed I was suddenly finding myself stranded and unable to get home. I thanked her for all her previous help but said I would struggle to accept lifts from her now as I will be fearful of being stranded again with no warning. She won't speak to me now.

Because I cannot walk far out of the house and have no transport I am housebound without a door to door lift with a female. Because of the physical pain, emotional pain and PTSD I struggle with feeling that I don't have a life worth living. My CPN suggested I apply for PIP citing change of circumstances because my back pain is significantly worse. She feels if I have a car and am able to leave the house that I won't feel that life is too painful. I live alone and am intensely lonely and yet am highly anxious should anyone enter my house.

So I applied for PIP citing change of circumstances, completed the form and sent it off with letters from my GP and CPN. They both said I am unable to walk further than 50 metres. They both said that I get distressed following appointments and regularly self harm after the meetings. My CPN said that I would definitely require a home visit. My GP printed of all the medications I take and how often as well as listing the Allevyn and Inodene dressings I am prescribed for my wounds.

Today I received an appointment for a face to face consultation at an office in the city. I managed to phone the number on the letter and despite crying managed to make myself understood and I was told that my request for a home visit was denied because on my application form I'd apparently mentioned an appointment I'd attended so they turned down my request for a home visit. They are going to contact both the GP and CMHT to see if I've had visits there and if I have then their refusal to provide a home visit still stands. I'm due home visits tomorrow with both my CPN and GP who are coming one in the morning and one at lunchtime so I'm hoping that the assessment centre don't make contact beforehand because my ability to get to my GP surgery has completely ended with the fallout with the lady leaving me stranded there so it's only now that I can't get there at all.

The assessment centre said they'd arrange a taxi but I said that I'm unable to be in an enclosed space with a man and that would be impossible for me. I got the distinct impression that a home visit will not be allowed despite my inability to attend the appointment or the high risk of self harming if I find going there and having the assessment distressing which I'm sure I will.

Any advice welcome.

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5 years 11 months ago #211005 by Gordon
Maysie

You say in your post that your CPN and GP have said that you would be at risk of harm after a meeting, was this information included with your PIP2?

I would not rely on the Assessment Provider contacting either of these, so I would ask them both to write letters that you can send to the AP. I'm not sure whether you are hoping for a home assessment or a Paper Based Review but in either case their letters need to be unambiguous about your problems, any suggestion that there are circumstances where you could attend, as an example; will undermine the letter.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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5 years 11 months ago #211012 by Maysie01
I'd hoped that given my CPN had stated that I self harm after appointments that in reading that they may accept the paper as assessment only given the risk but that was in my head, I answered honestly and truthfully in the form and did state I self harm after appointments myself. However my CPN was VERY clear that the assessment was extremely likely to cause me to self harm and she said any appointment must be at home.
I know I'd never get myself to the city office. I don't have transport. I can't get in cars with men and I'd have to take so much pain relief and sedative to get there that I doubt I'd make any sense and when I do that I think afterwards what I should have said but I'm so drugged up I can't think straight. I did exactly that with my last appointment with my CPN.

I feel like sending a photo of my body covered in hundreds of scars.

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5 years 11 months ago #211013 by Maysie01
I have pulled out my copies of the evidence sent with my form. My CPN said "Maysie, now, will always need to be accompanied to appointments as she cannot walk anymore. I always see her at home due to her mobility, severe anxiety and depression. When Maysie has pushed herself to attend appointments, the resulting distress and pain always leads to self medication to manage the pain and self-harm by cutting to manage her severe emotional distress. I would respectfully request that her assessment is conducted at her home because of her anxiety, depression, extreme distress and pain"

I live alone and have no one to take me even if I thought I could get there. The CPN has said I need accompanying always and I have no one to accompany me plus I know 100% that the distress of going there will put me at far greater risk of harm because my distress is already sky high.

My GP wrote "I can confirm that she has persistent back pain limiting her ability and requiring regular medication. It is regularly difficult for Maysie to mobilise at all and she would not reliably be able to walk 50 metres. In view of her anxiety and depression it is frequently impossible for Maysie to travel due to overwhelming psychological distress. I would be very grateful for this to be taken into account when assessing her claim."

I honestly don't think I can get myself there. Then I will lose the PIP I already have, my ESA will reduce hugely and I will be liable to pay some council tax to. I'll never be able to afford to live. I'm feeling overwhelmed and like I'm being pushed into a corner. I really thought they'd allow me a home visit. I've requested a female assessor. I just feel hopeless.

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5 years 11 months ago #211025 by Gordon
Maysie

You need to speak to your GP and CPN to see what further support they may be able to provide.

For example, would your CPN be willing to phone the Assessment Provider to confirm that you need a home assessment?

It is possible that your GP's and CPN's comments have not been read and that is why a home assessment has not been offered.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: Maysie01

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5 years 11 months ago #211083 by Maysie01
I didn't sleep a single minute last night worrying and ruminating the consequences of losing the PIP award I already have because I am unable to get to an assessment centre. I wrote a letter to my MP in the early hours asking him why the DWP have refused the request for a home assessment and quoted both professionals evidence. It's at times like this I wish I owned a laptop/computer/printer instead of just accessing the Internet on my phone and my eyesight is not good reading things so small such as opened documents.
Anyway I wrote it all out and gave him permission to contact the DWP on my behalf and it went in today's post so should arrive tomorrow.
My CPN has no time to contact the assessment centre so she suggested I ask my GP who was also coming to me for a home visit today. My GP won't have time today but she's taken down the details needed to phone them during the day tomorrow.
I feel I have done all I can do myself. My CPN was shocked that I'd been expected to attend an assessment centre given the evidence I sent them.
As phoning them to say I need a home assessment counts as my cancelling an appointment, this means according to the man at the assessment centre that this is me cancelling an appointment so whatever they send me next as an appointment is compulsory for me to attend or my current benefit will stop.
I'm worried that neither my MP or GP will contact them in time before a second appointment is sent out to me to attend the assessment centre on a different date. And as I can't get there I will lose my benefit.
My CPN says I mustn't ruminate on worse case scenarios but it's very hard not to and even she agreed that the things I'm worried about are a real possibility. But I will try not to worry now that I have done all I can.

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