Required professional (ie name your consultants) for PIP

JBL2000

Hi Everyone,

Just looking for a little help. I have moderate autism. I have applied for PIP because my circumstances around support have changed. The issue is that on the PIP form I need to put down two specialists on the form. The problem is that I have managed by myself for the last several years. I do have a string of psychologists, psyschiatrists, councellors, interventions etc. that date back over a decade, some recent, some not so. I also have a professional diagnosis for this as well.

If I were to identify a single one or pair, it only gives part of the picture. How do I convey that in the form?

poppy12345

JBL2000 said:

Hi Everyone,

Just looking for a little help. I have moderate autism. I have applied for PIP because my circumstances around support have changed. The issue is that on the PIP form I need to put down two specialists on the form. The problem is that I have managed by myself for the last several years. I do have a string of psychologists, psyschiatrists, councellors, interventions etc. that date back over a decade, some recent, some not so. I also have a professional diagnosis for this as well.

If I were to identify a single one or pair, it only gives part of the picture. How do I convey that in the form?

Lots of people just put the name of their GP. Not everyone sees Consultants. They very rarely contact anyone for any evidence anyway. It's the claimants responsibility to send evidence with the form to support their claim.

If you no longer see that particular Consultant then don't use their name. Naming Consultants is not going to tell them how your conditions affect you. A diagnosis, isn't usually in question when claiming PIP.

PIP isn't about a diagnosis, it's how those conditions affect your ability to carry out daily activity based on the PIP descriptors.

When filling out the form you need to put as much relevant information about how your conditions affect you, without telling them your life story. Then add a couple of recent real world examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you.

JBL2000

Hi Poppy,

Thanks for the info. I realise that its about how it impacts me and I can give several recent examples, but I was just a bit worried that they may not take me seriously because of a lack of "professionals" named! It's a whole new experience to me.

Spoonie_Turtle

JBL2000 said:

Hi Poppy,

Thanks for the info. I realise that its about how it impacts me and I can give several recent examples, but I was just a bit worried that they may not take me seriously because of a lack of "professionals" named! It's a whole new experience to me.

If you want, you could list them in the 'other information' section, just to give an overview of the fact that yes you have had professional input over the years. I understand your worry and I don't know whether they take this kind of thing into account but I've done similar so that they have some context of what led to to this point (especially as my illness was only diagnosed fairly recently after several years of worsening health), basically for my own peace of mind!

poppy12345

It's always worth remembering that less is often more.

Spoonie_Turtle

poppy12345 said:

It's always worth remembering that less is often more.

One of the questions in the telephone assessment was about your medical history, and it was evident that my assessor had read the overview I provided. Not that it necessarily helps specifically for any descriptors, but again it was peace of mind for me knowing that I'd done my best to make my difficulties make sense rather giving than the impression of having been diagnosed out of the blue. It also meant I didn't have to explain very much for that question, because she just basically checked that her understanding of it was correct (pretty much the same happened in my WCA too).

poppy12345

We'll just have to agree to disagree with this one.

Spoonie_Turtle

poppy12345 said:

We'll just have to agree to disagree with this one.

Fair enough it can't do any *harm* though, can it?

BooJewels

When my husband applied for PIP he gave his consultant and GP in the required boxes, but also added his specialist nurse (at her suggestion) and it was in fact her that they contacted by phone.  Which in our case, served him well, as she was much better able to describe how he's deteriorated (she's known him a good while) and how he copes etc. and he actually got a higher award than we anticipated.  So a suitable professional that perhaps knows you better might be more appropriate than a formal doctor, who maybe doesn't know you personally as well.  

In our case we were dreading them contacting the GP as they seem to be totally oblivious to his condition and know little about him at all.

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

poppy12345 said:

We'll just have to agree to disagree with this one.

Fair enough it can't do any *harm* though, can it?

I just don't see the need to add the names if you no longer see those Consultants.

Spoonie_Turtle

poppy12345 said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

poppy12345 said:

We'll just have to agree to disagree with this one.

Fair enough it can't do any *harm* though, can it?

I just don't see the need to add the names if you no longer see those Consultants.

It's more to show that although you don't have much/any professional input now, you have had before. They might assume that no professional input now shows your issues don't affect you that much, whereas if you've had lots of specialist input already it shows something obviously warranted that and it's entirely possible that the reason you no longer see them is that they just can't do any more for you. Whether that is how the assessors or DMs think, I don't know. But that's the reasoning for a lot of people behind wanting to give a clear and full account.

Maybe putting their names isn't necessary (I didn't, just what their occupation was) but perhaps other people applying may strongly feel they want it to very clearly tally with any evidence they send that might mention the names of consultants they saw.