is it normal for another GP to fill DLA form in

when_will_it_end

ment to add

i had my MRI yesterday and shall recieve the results in a week or so, the last specialist said she thinks its a disc bulge if this is true or what ever the results show do i call the DLA and tell them im thinking that this will help prove the pain i am in an back up my mobility needs

thanks

TOBRUK

when_will_it_end wrote: »

i applied for dla and was refused
i asked for the evidence they used maily the DR report as i wandered just what he had said that made the DLA come to the conclusion they had

the doctor that filled it in was not a doctor i have ever seen in my life, i presume they just sent the forms to the surgery and who ever was free filled it in

i have appealed it on this basis explaining that i had never seen him and if my own doctor had filled it in i believed that the answers would have been different

.....

i sent off a report from bupa and an independent occupational report,
....

will the DLA re-wright to my doctor?

thanks

when_will_it_end wrote: »

hi all

i recieved a thick brown envelope to day from DLA saying it had gone to tribrunal bit confused as i never asked for it to go is this an automatic thing now?

i was obviously refused after sending in evidence to support my mobility issues from various people

they say that i dissagree because the information should have been obtained from my doctor, ...
...

alos i can cook a main meal if all the ingredients are available, how do i get the ingrgredients if i cant get up and out to the shops

says i can drive 20 mins on a good day, which i can manage just, but driving and walking are two different things

help please, thanks

In your first post you said that you had just been refused DLA and also said you had appealed it and sent evidence! So I don't know why you are saying that you can't understand why they had sent it to tribunal!

Does it say tribunal on your letter or does it say another decision maker or appeal? If it is tribunal have you been given a date for you to attend?

If you haven't anyone who can get ingredients you can shop 'online', although you say you can drive for 20 mins on good day.

when_will_it_end wrote: »

ment to add

i had my MRI yesterday and shall recieve the results in a week or so, the last specialist said she thinks its a disc bulge if this is true or what ever the results show do i call the DLA and tell them im thinking that this will help prove the pain i am in an back up my mobility needs

It will only help IF the pain affects your mobility or care needs. Also you must realise that it doesn't matter what your illness/diagnosis is - DLA is all about your care and mobility needs - how your illness affects you in this.

when_will_it_end

TOBRUK wrote: »

In your first post you said that you had just been refused DLA and also said you had appealed it and sent evidence! So I don't know why you are saying that you can't understand why they had sent it to tribunal!

i thought that they would send me a letter first explaining why they had deciced to stay at the original descision and then give me the oppertunity to ask for a tribrunal, and fill in another form


Does it say tribunal on your letter or does it say another decision maker or appeal? If it is tribunal have you been given a date for you to attend?

its says that what i have recieved is also what the tribunral has been sent

If you haven't anyone who can get ingredients you can shop 'online', although you say you can drive for 20 mins on good day.


i can drive for 20 mins on a good day but walking is a different kettle of fish i have a lumber support cusion in my car although it helps it does not enable me to also walk for up to 20 mins, you are right tho i could do my shopping on line


It will only help IF the pain affects your mobility or care needs. Also you must realise that it doesn't matter what your illness/diagnosis is - DLA is all about your care and mobility needs - how your illness affects you in this.

i do understand it is about what the pain affects me doing not the illness its self, but how do i prove the pain i am in is real if they will not ask my doctor? i was thinking if i said an MRI shows i have blah blah then surely they will have to accept that it can cause alot of pain not just a liitle every so often

thanks....

when_will_it_end

it also says on the form the doctor filled in that i have suffered with my back for years, this is not true i have suffered with my knee's for years

deeplyblue

when_will_it_end wrote: »

they have accepted that i do have pain whilst walking but because i use aids then im ok, i accept that using aids enables me to do more than if i did not have them but what if i did not have them? do they not take this in to account?

they can not take cooking shopping and cleaning in to account as it does not count as attention to personal care, is eating, having toiletries from the shops and living in a reasonably clean home ok? or am i expected not to have these basics?

it says i can cook for one person (although i have a DD) it says i can stand long enough to manage to cook and use pans, ok so i can maybe heat soup or beans if i am on a good day but i can not lift the pan how do i eat/ out of the pan at the cooker?

alos i can cook a main meal if all the ingredients are available, how do i get the ingrgredients if i cant get up and out to the shops

says i can drive 20 mins on a good day, which i can manage just, but driving and walking are two different things

help please, thanks

wwie, I cannot answer your question as to whether you have appealed or not, or how through the process you have gone. You might perhaps write to DWP and ask them for a brief list of the stages which your claim has gone through.

However, I can answer some of your other queries.

You will have applied for DLA in general, and fill in (initially) one form, with one set of information. However, the DWP has to make 2 separate decisions about your care and mobility entitlements, based on 2 different sets of rules. When you are working out what you think is wrong with their decisions, you have to tackle these two differently.

So, first, CARE. You need to understand that what the DWP is deciding is not - despite what their literature implies - what you need, but what you are entitled to in law. So, as regards DLA, your role as a parent is not taken into account - if you have to cook for three active toddlers, or just for yourself, it makes no difference. This may or may not be fair, but it remains the basis on which the DWP assess you - and discussing anything else just here will not help you at all.

Next, the DLA CARE is based on your need for personal care. The state of your home is not taken into account here. (Historically this was often the role of council services). Again, whether that is fair or sensible does not matter here. All that matters is the DWP will take no account of your need for help with your housework when assessing DLA CARE, because the law says that is what they must take into account only your personal needs.

You do not say whether you have applied for help with getting dressed, going to the toilet or keeping yourself safe or the other standard tests of personal care needs, so I cannot comment on those either. You have also not said whether you have made any claims on mental health grounds, and I am not equipped to comment on those anyway.

Traditionally the test for the lowest level of the CARE component of DLA is whether you can cook a main meal for yourself if the ingredients have been bought for you. Here, it sounds to me as if you might have a case. The test assumes that you can prepare a "meat and 2 veg" meal from scratch. If you usually have serious difficulty lifting pans, or if it causes you pain, then the DWP have to take that into account when assessing your benefit. If you are not safe when handling conventional pans at a conventional cooker (i.e. not a microwave), then you would usually be given the lowest level of DLA CARE.

But that assumes that your doctor has backed you up, and that the examining doctor did not contradict that on his/her report. If the DWP believe that you are exaggerating the pain and/or the risk, then they can turn you down. If a Tribunal does not support you either, then your appeal could be turned down.

As I say, I cannot comment now on whether any of those doctors' reports were properly filled in and submitted.

When it comes to your MOBILITY needs, then a different set of rules applies. Here, in order to get the higher level of DLA you have to be unable to walk, or "virtually" unable to walk. If you have a lot of difficulty or pain when walking a short distance (I'd have to check the actual distance in metres), then you might qualify for the higher level.

They are allowed to take into account your use of walking aids. Think about it - when your vision is checked to see if you are safe to drive, they allow you to use specs, if that's what you usually do when driving. It's the same with walking - if you manage OK with the aid of a couple of sticks, then they can assume that you manage OK - full stop. If you have severe problems managing to walk even with sticks, or if your pain is just the same the same with or without sticks, then you should say so. You can't claim DLA because you have to use sticks, and they can't deny it just because you use sticks.

There are some real oddities about DLA MOBILITY - one of them is that the lower rate is not really for people who don't quite qualify for the higher level. It is for people who can manage to get around, but are not really safe on their own.

In either case, they can (I think) take into account your using aids like walking sticks. They cannot consider whether you can drive. Remember I'm not talking about how a neighbour or friend might judge your needs. Someone who knows you might say, "Oh, but you can drive - you don't need to walk to get your groceries." That may be true, but is not relevant - the DWP are assessing only your ability to walk.

On the other hand, the fact that you can't drive and live 3 miles from the nearest supermarket is not something they will consider either. If you can walk the specified distance, and do so on most days, then the DWP will not give you DLA MOBILITY. They assume that you have no more difficulty getting around than anyone else who lives in the same place as your do, and will have to manage your distance from the shops the same way.

I realise that I am only repeating what others have said, but I think it needs hammering home. The questions the DWP ask are about how well you cope with the everyday needs of your body, and your need to move around. They do not, technically, consider why you have such needs.

This is even more true of the new WCA test which will be the template for the replacement test when the new PIP benefit is introduced. The claim that it is the actual level of your need and not the nature of your disease is often repeated.

This is not, in actual fact, quite true. If you claim you can't walk because you have severe damage to your spine following a car accident, which anyone can see on an x-ray, then most people will find that very credible. They will often accept that your spine is permanently damaged, and give you a longer term award

Say that you have severe fibromyaligia, but that there no tests for it and it becomes much more difficult for people to believe that it hurts as much as you say it does. They may also have no idea about how likely FM is to get better or worse or over what timescale.

So, though the forms ask about actual physical difficulties, it remains true that - especially when you get to Tribunal - that it can come down to how much the people behind the desk believe you about both your difficulties and your pain. Sad, but true. (Been there ...)

Nevertheless, you should assume that everyone is reasonable, because that's the only way to get through the system. But make sure you stick to facts and being reasonable - it makes it much harder to dismiss you as a hypochondriac.

when_will_it_end

thanks deeply blue

i will make a call to the DLA on monday as i am confused as to what stage i am at
i filled in the form and sent it off arround 20th december
i recieved a letter on 9th of feb saying i was not entitled
i phoned various people asked for copies of everything i thought may help and the DLA to see what the doc had written
i sent all off in the nick of time, but i did call them to say i was waiting on some information and it may be a little late, as it happens i got everything to them on 9th march
on 1st april i recieved a thick brown envelope saying no and that all the info in this envelope had also been sent to tribunral

the time scale seems a bit quick to me

although i disputed what the doctor had said it was only in the way really of lack of information what he had put was true apart from my years of pain was with my back not my knees he said it was variable, he could not answer much more because i have never spoken to this doctor, and am i right in saying my doctor would not have made notes on the system about how i am in the house and out side walking or with work as we have discussed these things over the last 6 months or so

my mum helps with cleaning and shopping ect and now i do understand that they do not take this in to account thanks

they never questioned my incontinance and profuse sweating in the night which means i have to get up and change, i try to shout my DD for this but if she has had a bad day ect i just come down stairs and try to get on the couch to sleep vary rarely works tho and then i ask my mum friend to help sort my bed out in the day

this is more information that i believe my own doctor would have mentioned as part of on going tests, as there are other investigations still on going

how do i prove pain?

when_will_it_end

ment to add

i did not really mention my MH issues this in all honesty is the only thing i think i can cope with, after 20 yrs, it was mainly based on mobility and the care needs arising from that

deeplyblue

when_will_it_end wrote: »

thanks deeply blue

i will make a call to the DLA on monday as i am confused as to what stage i am at
i filled in the form and sent it off arround 20th december
i recieved a letter on 9th of feb saying i was not entitled
i phoned various people asked for copies of everything i thought may help and the DLA to see what the doc had written
i sent all off in the nick of time, but i did call them to say i was waiting on some information and it may be a little late, as it happens i got everything to them on 9th march
on 1st april i recieved a thick brown envelope saying no and that all the info in this envelope had also been sent to tribunral

the time scale seems a bit quick to me

It sounds as though they have looked at the forms and turned you down, and then when you made your phone calls you told them you wanted to appeal. They may even have asked you some question that was obvious to them, but not to you, which meant that what you said meant that you asked to appeal.

I strongly suggest that, if your papers have been sent to the Tribunal Service that you try and get some trained help. The usual answer is to look to the CAB, but your local council may have a Welfare Rights Officer who can help you with your appeal. Your chances of being successful in your appeal go up remarkably if you have professional help.

when_will_it_end wrote: »

although i disputed what the doctor had said it was only in the way really of lack of information what he had put was true apart from my years of pain was with my back not my knees he said it was variable, he could not answer much more because i have never spoken to this doctor, and am i right in saying my doctor would not have made notes on the system about how i am in the house and out side walking or with work as we have discussed these things over the last 6 months or so

Once again this is a case for professional help. I don't know what your doctor said exactly, or the DWP's doctor either, though - if the papers have gone to tribunal - they should send you copes of the reports. How you should dispute the medical findings I don't know.

when_will_it_end wrote: »

they never questioned my incontinance and profuse sweating in the night which means i have to get up and change, i try to shout my DD for this but if she has had a bad day ect i just come down stairs and try to get on the couch to sleep vary rarely works tho and then i ask my mum friend to help sort my bed out in the day

It does sound as if you have a case for night-time care needs, but I could be wrong.

when_will_it_end wrote: »

how do i prove pain?

That one's tough. It is, I believe the bit that makes the new philosophy of sickness benefits, "If we can't measure it, you don't have it," such a pernicious measure. Both pain and fatigue are fundamental to sickness and to those disabilities that arise from sickness.

The people who design these benefits have a mental picture of someone in a wheelchair after a car accident, or someone born blind. Their disabilities are what I call "absolute" - someone's legs are not going to grow back, and someone totally blind is not (barring miracles) going to develop sight. So they can either do things - or not. The benefit tests are designed to see what you can do - if you are completely blind then that's that. Your pain and fatigue may be the same as that of a sighted person. You're perfectly healthy - you just can't see. Ditto someone in a wheelchair - they may be perfectly healthy, they just can't walk.

But in fact many - probably most - of the people with mobility problems in this country are not healthy people without the use of legs. Most have mobility problems that arise from age or illness, and most have partial mobility - they can walk a little, slowly. And maybe it hurts, or maybe after 100 years they're so tired they can hardly think straight.

The system is not geared up to assess this. The examining doctor should have been watching you for signs of pain or fatigue, your own doctor should have mentioned it, and your original form should have stressed this.

Eventually it may just come down to whether an appeal panel believes you.

BTW, when you phone the DWP always make a note of the date and time of the call, and who you spoke to - if necessary ask them to repeat and spell their name. Then write down what you think they said, read it back to them and say, "Is that correct?"

Good luck

when_will_it_end

i tried to call a few times today butthey seem to be extreamly busy, i will try again tomorrow

i never phoned to appeal i just wrote a letter as even if i write things down to say i still forget or get jumbled up, so i wrote a letter over a few days and printed it off when i thought it was ok and everything i needed to put was in it

does this make a difference that i wrote and did not call?

i will also go and see someone profesional this week, thanks

TOBRUK

I prefer to write as you always have a record, and when they reply you have it in black and white. How can you prove what they say to you over the phone?!