Help with PIP Face to Face assesment

caprichos

I have been working very hard on this letter and was wondering if I could have some feedback?


name
adddress

National Insurance Number:
6/02/2017

Dear Sir or Madam
I am writing to you to request a mandatory reconsideration following your decision letter dated 23/01/2017 for my husband’s Personal Independence Payment claim.
We believe my husband was not able to give a full and accurate account of how his disabilities affect him most days as unfortunately at the beginning of the assessment we were instructed to be brief and therefore we feel you did not have all the necessary information in order to make a fair decision.

Conditions/ disabilities: Stroke, COPD, Asthma, IBS, Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP), Depression.

We are asking you to reconsider the following activities:
Mixing with other people.
Since suffering a stroke and also being diagnosed with depression my husband does not socialise and he not only needs encouraging and prompting to engage with other people specially those he does not know but he also needs the physical and emotional support form a family member or a close friend. When going to the GP or other appointments he needs a family member to go with him. This is because he struggles to get his words out and he also finds it very difficult to process information. He gets more fatigued and his memory is therefore affected and because of his poor concentration and won’t be able to retain the information given to him. This makes him feel extremely anxious and distress so much so that he gets very sweaty and restless. This happened to him during the assessment and he asked for the door to be opened to let some air in. Sadly, the HCP refused as she felt that by doing so the private nature of the assessment would be compromised.
Also under the pressure of having to quickly respond to all the questions, unable to have enough time to process all the information and feeling by that time terribly fatigued anxious and agitated my husband scratched himself to bleed. Kindly the HCP offered him tissues to dry his blood.
My husband was awarded 0 points for this activity and we believe he should be awarded 4 point (needs social support to be able to engage with other people)

Making budgeting decisions.
After the stroke my husband finds it extremely difficult to process and retaining information, so he most days forget to do things he has been asked to do.
In respect to this activity, my husband has a bank account where his DLA gets paid into and I help him set up a direct debit for his phones payments to come out so he does not forget to make payments in time as he has done in the past. An example is one to do with school dinners. MY husband forgot to make several payments for my son’s school dinners and I only found out when the school administrator told me we owed over £92. When I asked my husband about it he had no answers as he simply had forgotten he forgot to make these payments. I therefore take car all budgeting decisions.
My husband has been awarded 0 points for this activity when we believe he should be awarded 6 points (cannot make any budgeting decisions at all)


Planning and following a journey
Because of the stroke and the COPD my husband suffers from extreme fatigue from the moment he wakes up to the time he goes to bed. This happens most days if not every day. This has an enormous impact on his mood, level of alertness and concentration and therefore affects his ability to complete or perform most activities reliably; safely, repeatedly, in a timely manner and to an appropriate standard.
When going out my husband suffers from severe anxiety and distress. Sudden loud noises like car horns, car doors slamming, sudden shouting etc. frighten him making him to grow more anxious and loose his balance, coordination and concentration.
Because of the stroke my husband suffers from a very unsteady gait and dropped foot. This make his walking to be very poor and he stumbles a lot. He has had several falls and when this happens he is unable to help himself up making him feel extremely vulnerable and very afraid. Recently his GP asked him to consider the possibility of getting an assistance dog as she believes this would be extremely beneficial for both is metal and physical health and wellbeing. It is because of all these reasons my husband is not able to follow any route familiar or unfamiliar on his own safely, repeatedly and to an appropriate standard.
My husband award for this activity was 0 points. We believe the award given to him should be 12 points (Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid)

Moving around.
Because of the stroke, my husband walks at a very slow pace, with a very unsteady gait and need the use of a walking stick. He also suffers from COPD and asthma which makes him breathless after taking only a few steps. Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is a rare condition in which blood vessels become inflamed resulting in a rash and joint and stomach pain. Particularly, the ankles and knees get swollen and a brushing-like rush appear and walking becomes extremely painful. All these conditions affect my husband most days if not daily and he is therefore unable to walk more than 20 metres, sometime even less without having to constantly stop due to breathlessness and severe pain. Most days he needs to take very long breaks between very short walks as pushing himself to do more will mean he needs to take at least a couple of days rest for the inflammation and rush to calm down.
On the day of the assessment, we parked the car on the side road of the building and walk the distance to the entrance. During this short walk my husband had to stop several times due to breathlessness and pain in his legs. Inside the centre my husband walked a distance of no more than 15 metres to the assessment room also having to stop at least twice to catch his breath and rest.
Whist my husband is not able to walk more than 20 metres reliably; safely, repeatedly, to an appropriate standard and in a timely manner, he has been awarded 10 points.
We strongly believe he should be awarded 12 points (Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres, either aided or unaided)




We have also enclosed a letter from a health professional (GP) supporting our claim to further assist you in the reconsideration.

I would be most grateful if you could inform us of progress in this matter and advise me whether I need to take any more steps to deal with this as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully


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